Shinobi Team Devil Bats
by Gremlin Jack
Summary: The 4th Hokage sacrificed his life to seal the Kyuubi inside a baby named Hiruma Uzumaki. Now, 12-year-old Hiruma, his best friend Kurita Akimichi, and the heiress Sena Hyuuga are graduating Shinobi Academy and are made part of the same genin team. People think they know what to expect, but no one is ready for the Devil bats.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I own neither Naruto nor Eyeshield 21 **

**This fic is AU by necessity, since replacing Naruto with Hiruma, Choji with Kurita, and Hinata with fem!Sena will result in changes to the way events play out. Incidientally, Sena is still called Sena as according to Google the name works for both men and women. **

**Reviews are the lifeblood of fanfic authors, please leave some!**

"Delicious! Another bowl please!" The boy slammed down an empty bowl, a huge smile on his face. Ayame couldn't help but smile in return as she served up what was his fourteenth bowl of ramen. Certainly, Kurita Akimichi lived up to his family's reputation as gourmands. The black-haired twelve-year-old was a huge boy, easily mistakable as a short, fat adult from behind. Everything about him was round, He had a large round smiling face with plump cheeks, a large round torso, with massive arms and legs as thick as tree trunks. It was a constant source of amazement to Ayame that one of the five great shinobi clans of Konohagure could have produced an heir like him, or that said heir was actually considered one of the better students at the shinobi academy.

Ayame glanced at his similarly aged companion, a true study in contrasts. If Kurita could be described as 'round', the one word to describe Hiruma Uzumaki would be 'sharp'. The boy was of average height but thin as a rake. His loose, bright orange jacket and trousers couldn't conceal bony knees and elbows. He had a sharp chin, slanted eyes, aquiline nose, and his unkempt blond hair seemed to form natural spikes. There was even a hint of pointiness about the ears. Hiruma had already finished his lunch – the same lunch he had ordered every day at Ichiruka for the last six years, a single bowl of ramen, no extras. Now Hiruma was idly juggling three kunai in one hand as he waited for his friend to finish. Seeing Ayame looking at him, Hiruma gave her a smile (even that was sharp, like the grin of a hungry fox), pointed a thumb at Kurita, and observed: "The fucking fatass can really put it away, huh?" The language was shocking, but Ayame had long since realized that Hiruma used profanity as punctuation. Certainly, Kurita didn't even pause in his consumption of ramen at the implied insult. To stave off further foul-mouthed language, Ayame plumped down a bowl of ramen in front of Hiruma. "On the house, for a valued customer." Once more, Hiruma gave her his scimitar smile, picked up his chopsticks, and went to work on the bowl with a murmured thanks.

This was a ritual between Ayame and Hiruma, that had started shortly after Hiruma joined the academy. He had been coming to Ichiruka for three years, and in all that time, he had never been with anyone or engaged anyone in a conversation. He would order a ramen bowl, eat without any apparent enjoyment (yet he must have liked it, or why would he come back every day?), pay, and leave. Even as a small child, he had had a 'fuck-off' aura that discouraged small talk. On that day, though, some sort of perverse spirit had entered Ayame. She had learnt from Iruka-sensei that Hiruma was now an academy student, and steeling her courage, the teenager had marched up to Hiruma, and placed a second bowl of ramen in front of the 9-year-old. "On the house, congratulations on entering the academy." That was the first time she had seen Hiruma smile. Later, when she had told her father what she had done, Teuchi had simply remarked, "That boy needs all the kindness he can get." Since then, Ayame had actively kept an ear open for gossip about Hiruma, and had treated him to a free bowl whenever something happened, be it good or bad. When Hiruma first brought Kurita over to have lunch, Ayame had given him free ramen every day for a week ("to friendship!"). She had hoped it was a sign of things to come, but sadly, Hiruma was now on the verge of graduating, and Kurita remained the only person who ever took lunch with him. Ayame sighed to herself and went back to work.

x-o-x

Meanwhile, at the Shinobi Academy, Iruka had decided to have lunch at his desk. He wanted to finish correcting the test papers before he went home that day. It was the last round of quizzes before the final exam, and the tests had been getting tougher and tougher, as the Academy sought to eliminate those unsuited to the shinobi lifestyle. He pulled up another paper, and sighed as he saw Hiruma's name. _I don't know why I bother,_ he thought, _the pass grade's a 60, so he'll score or a 60 or a 63 or something._ It turned out to be a 61._ How does he do it? How does anyone come so consistently close to failing without actually failing? Even that bone-lazy Nara manages to ace the occasional quiz._ Iruka paused, his pen tapping on the desk as his brow furrowed. Now that he really thought about it, it was odd. If Hiruma was a marginal student, he should have occasionally failed. If he was a good but lazy student like Shikamaru, his grades would be low, but not this low. Frowning, he pulled out Hiruma's file and started checking. It was as he had thought. Over the past two years, Hiruma had taken dozens of graded quizzes and tests, both theoretical and physical, and had always scraped a pass with the thinnest of margins. There were some tests which were not graded, but simple pass/fail. For example, this year there had been twelve such tests, and students had to pass nine of them to continue. Hiruma had passed the first nine, then failed the last three. The same the year before. Perhaps the most obvious clue was his shurikenjutsu results. Shurikenjutsu was the easiest of the physical tests to grade – just have the students throw at the target, then total up the points. In each such test, Hiruma had scored _exactly_ the points needed to pass. _Darts. A test to determine his future, and the brat's playing darts._ Iruka continued going farther back in the records. Finally, the strange pattern broke. In Hiruma's first three months in the academy, his grades made a lot more sense. High score in maths, above average grades in everything theoretical, low to average in everything physical, and a perfect score in shurikenjutsu. The only other perfect in that subject, so early in the year, had been Tenten. Except, where Tenten had continued being perfect, and was now considered a budding weaponsmistress, Hiruma had starting barely passing. _No, not barely passing. He was passing perfectly._

Iruka put aside the file, and went back to grading tests, but he couldn't stop thinking about it. There was no doubt in his mind that Hiruma was deliberately messing with his grades, but to what purpose? He tried discussing the problem with his fellow teacher, Mizuki. Mizuki heard him out, then laughed and assured Iruka that he was being paranoid. Iruka was surprised by the reaction, since Mizuki had seemed quite interested. No matter. If Mizuki wouldn't help, then Iruka would go to the source.

x-o-x

Three days later, Ayame was amazed to see Iruka-snesei accompanying Hiruma into the shop, and declaring that he was paying for both. Even more amazingly, Hiruma ordered his one bowl of ramen... and then kept on ordering. Iruka observed with awe, and some worry, as bowl after bowl was emptied by the skinny child. The ramen seemed to vanish in front of his very eyes. Somewhere between the seventh and eighth bowls, Iruka opened the conversation, partly in the hopes of stemming the tide. He presented his suspicions to Hiruma, quickly and concisely, then demanded to know why Hiruma was deliberately misrepresenting his skills.

"So, ya finally figured it out? Lemme guess, it was the fuckin' shurikenjutsu scores."

"That was the clincher, yes. So, you knew those scores were a giveaway?"

"Yep. I knew I shoulda made it more random, but I couldn't resist."

"Yes, well, that's not important. What is important is, as your teacher, I have no idea how much you've actually learned. You have systematically destroyed any chance of my giving you an appropriate grade."

"Well, why's it friggin' matter? These fucking tests are there to weed out those who ain't got what it takes. Beyond that they don't matter squat. Once we out of the academy, all that matters is how well we do on our missions."

"They do matter, Hiruma. These grades are what we use to set up well-balanced genin teams in the first place. Now, a team that could have benefited from your skills will have to make do with someone else. Lives are literally at stake!"

"Cut the fuckin' drama. What you really mean is, you use the grades to stick the strong kids with a bunch of weak-ass noobs, and expect them to pick up the slack. Well, this kid declines bein' a fuckin' babysitter. When I get a team, I want fuckers that I can put to some use."

"Well, that plan's out the window. I know you're better than you pretend. We just don't blindly follow the grades, you know. The teachers get a lot of say in the team formation. Now, I could just guess at your skill level. Or you could let me test you, in private – no official records, I swear – and I promise to try and find you a team you'll be happy working with."

Hiruma slurped his ramen for a moment, then replied. "Tell you what, you want to know how good I am, fine. I'll let you test me. But in exchange, I want Kurita on my team. I don't care who the third member is, but me and Kurita stick together. Give me your word as a Leaf Shinobi you can make that happen, and I'll do whatever you say."

Iruka paled. "Hiruma, I'm not sure you understand how big a favour you're asking..."

"I know exactly what I'm asking. The whole fuckin' village knows about the Nara-Aki-Yama alliance. And with all three heirs in the same year, the whole school is expecting the three of 'em to be on the same team. Well, Ino's cute and Shikamaru's a lot smarter than he lets on, but neither o' them knows Kurita like I do. So, why don't you go to the Hokage, and tell the old man to do whatever it takes to get the fatass on my team."

"The Hokage, huh? Well, I admit it'll take someone like him to placate the clans, but what makes you think he'll listen?"

"Sure he'll listen. After all, it's a request from yours truly." replied Hiruma with his devilish grin, as he tapped himself right above the belly button.

Now, Iruka was as white as a sheet. "You know?" he hissed. At a confirming nod, he continued. "That's an S-ranked secret! Who told you?"

"Oh, I picked up the bits and pieces here and there. With the whole village in on it, including the civilians, you can't expect to keep it a secret forever..."

**(Begin flashback)**

_The large man groaned, as an 11-year-old Hiruma stood over him with a lead pipe. It was after midnight. The man was a drunk named Keiji who had lashed out at Hiruma before, calling him a demon and threatening to kill him. Other villagers had done the same, and Hiruma wanted to know why. Once he was full of booze, Hiruma had found it easy to taunt the man into chasing him into the isolated alley. A well-placed slingshot to the ankle had tripped the man, and a few strikes to the knees with the pipe had immobilized him. After that, it was a simple matter of placing the pipe against the man's adam's apple, and increasing the pressure until he was choking out the whole story._

_The Kyuubi, the nine-tailed demon fox, had attacked the village, leading to horrendous casualties. In the end, the beloved Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze had sacrificed his life to seal the demon inside an orphan infant boy named Hiruma. The third Hokage had declared the entire incident an S-ranked secret, but it did nothing to stop the villagers from taking out their frustrations on the vessel, or to keep their children from imitating their parents._

_Hiruma pondered for a bit, then leaned over the man, giving him his most demonic grin. "Keiji-san, I think we should now talk about what you can do for me. After all, by your own admission, you have just let slip an S-ranked village secret. Why, I shudder to think what the ANBU will do to you if they ever got wind of it..."_

_Later, having reached a satisfactory understanding, Hiruma was walking home, when it occurred to him that he ought to make some notes on the night's events, just in case he needed to refresh his memory. _

_The next morning, Hiruma went to the stationary and bought a little black notebook._

**(End flashback)**

Iruka sighed and rubbed his head. "All right, I'll talk to the Hokage. And if he agrees to put Kurita on your team, do you agree to do your best in whatever tests I give you?"

"As long as the results are only known to you, me, and the Hokage, sure. You got a deal. Ayame, another bowl!"

With a start, Iruka realized that Hiruma had been slurping down ramen at an insane speed all through their conversation. "Um, how many bowls has it been?" asked Iruka, dreading the answer. "This is his fourteenth," replied Ayame.

"Is... is that normal for him?"

"Well, he certainly seems to have a good appetite today." Ayame replied diplomatically. Secretly, she shared Iruka's amazement. She had long suspected Hiruma didn't eat his fill due to money problems, but where was the skinny kid putting it all?

Just around the corner, Kurita performed a variant of the Kawarimi (body replacement) technique for the fourteenth time that day. Unknown to Ayame and Iruka, Hiruma had placed a chakra tag, penned in invisible ink, on the table in front of him. Now, for the fourteenth time, Kurita replaced the full bowl of ramen sitting on top of the tag with an empty one. As Kurita happily drained the bowl, he idly wondered why Iruka-sensei was treating Hiruma to lunch in the first place. Oh, well. He was sure Hiruma would tell him if and when he needed to know.

**A\N: Annnnd done with the first chapter. There won't be a lot of action in the first few chapters, it'll mostly be establishing the characters of Hiruma, Kurita, and Sena, in the Narutoverse. Sena will show up in either the second or third chapter. In the meantime, please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A\N: I own nothing.**

**Some of you were foolish enough to encourage me, so I'm inflicting another chapter on you :) I plan to update at least once a month, and more often if possible.**

**To those who asked, I am currently not planning to introduce any Eyeshield 21 characters beyond Hiruma, Kurita, and Sena. The rest of the Naruto characters are more or less same.**

* * *

"You called for me, Mizuki-sensei?"

"Ah, yes, Hiruma! Come in, have a seat."

As the twelve-year-old in the loud orange outfit sat down, Mizuki silently studied him. The boy was doing a fair job of appearing bored and uninterested, but any student had to be nervous when asked to meet a teacher just a week before the Shinobi Academy finals. They sat in silence for a long moment, then Hiruma burst out. "Well, what the fuck is it about?"

Mizuki snorted. "Obviously, it's about your grades. Your utterly misleading grades, I might add."

Hiruma's face blanked. "That's between me and Iruka-sensei. What the fuck do you know about it?"

"Iruka doesn't run this academy. Recommendations from all the teachers are considered when deciding who passes, who fails, and what teams they are on. And right now, a lot of the teachers are pissed that you've been making fools of them for years. Most of them want you expelled, passing grades or no."

Hiruma went very still, and studied Mizuki for a long moment. "So, why are you telling me this? You fuckers do whatever you want."

Mizuki sighed and shook his head. "Hiruma, I'm on your side, as is Iruka-sensei. We want to see you succeed. We both spoke for you, and finally, the other teachers agreed. There is a test we have designed, which will test all your shinobi skills. Pass it, and we will overlook the irregularity with your grades and guarantee your graduation. Not only that, but the test comes with a big success bonus."

"Oh? What is it?"

Mizuki-sensei smiled. "Tomorrow, a scroll will be delivered to the Hokage's office at 4 P.M. The scroll will be labeled "Jutsu Scroll TS/28". It will be either on his desk or in the scroll shelves at least until the next morning. You will steal that scroll, and bring it to me by 6 AM to training ground 8."

"Wait, what the fuck? You want me to steal from the fucking Hokage? What kind of messed-up test is that?"

"The Hokage knows about the test, of course. But his ANBU security does not. You will have to evade them, because if they spot you they will use lethal force. I recommend you make your move after the Hokage retires for the evening, there will be less security around his office then. And if you succeed, Hiruma, there will be a reward. That scroll contains top-secret jutsu that are never taught in the academy. But you pull of the heist, and me and Iruka will personally coach you in any one jutsu contained in the scroll, your choice."

"What? Really?"

"Yes, really. If you pass the test, you'll prove you have what it takes to learn from the scroll." Mizuki leaned forward, his voice growing softer. "We know why you hid your true skills. We know that some villagers and many of the students mistreat you, just for being an orphan. By hiding your skills, you could protect yourself better from someone who tries to hurt you. Well, here is a chance to do even better. Pull this off, and I swear on my hitai-ate, you will begin your shinobi career knowing at least one technique no other genin knows."

Hiruma had maintained his poker face, but now, his fists clenched, his breathing grew harder, and his eyes gleamed with excitement, and a thin smile stretched across his face. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to regain his composure, then opened them again. "All right, Mizuki-sensei. I'll get that scroll, and prove myself to you lot."

"Excellent. But do be careful, Hiruma. If it looks too dangerous, back off. Me and Iruka will handle the others."

"No! I won't let you down sensei! Now I gotta go! Gotta make plans! The ANBU won't know what hit 'em! Ya-ha!"

Mizuki smiled indulgently as the enthusiastic boy took his leave. He had never seen the ice-cold Hiruma so excited about anything.

o-o-o-o

Hiruma's excitement lasted exactly until he was out of sight of Mizuki's office. Then the skip in his step died away, and his face fell back into its usual blank mask. He walked aimlessly for over an hour, deep in thought, until his feet led him back to the academy, and the administrative building. He stared up at the top floor, at the large window of the Hokage's office. Standing directly above the window, on the roof, was a black-clad figure in a white ANBU face-mask. Hiruma was certain the shinobi was only the ANBU he was meant to see. He glanced at the window, then looked around. Behind the admin building stood the Hokage Mountain, carved on which were the faces of the four Hokage of Konoha.

Hiruma blinked. He looked closer at the pristine white stone of the carved cliff-face. He stared for several minutes, and slowly, a broad grin spread across his face. Turning around, he walked briskly towards the shopping district.

o-o-o-o

_(The next day)_

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the third Hokage, most powerful man in Konoha, sat back in his chair and rotated his wrist to get rid of the incipient cramp. He glanced at the clock. Almost five. Most ordinary admin chuunin would be heading home within the hour. He looked at his in-tray and knew he'd be stuck here at least until nine. Not for the first time, he silently cursed his successor for being a noble self-sacrificing idiot and leaving his old bones to take up the slack.

He was just turning back to the next minor crisis that Only The Hokage Can Solve! when several sharp explosions filled the air. Sarutobi glanced at one of his ANBU guards, who immediately got up, opened the window, and climbed out to go and investigate. After closing the window, Sarutobi himself left the office through the door, and at a fast but dignified walk, headed for the stairs. The sight of him steadied many of the office shinobi who had been disturbed by the sounds. As he stepped out of the front door, his investigator returned.

"Hokage-sama, it's the Hokage Mountain. Someone has… we…. you need to come and see it."

Sarutobi blinked. It took a lot to fluster an ANBU. Picking up the pace, he headed around the admin building, to the trail leading up to the mountain. He would have preferred to run, but the sight of the Hokage running was sure to lead to all sorts of panic-stricken rumors. When he got there, a substantial crowd had already gathered. Sarutobi joined them in staring up at the monument, and found himself struggling to maintain his dignified demeanor. The Hokage monument was still there, only now it had some colorful modifications. His own face now resembled some cartoon yami, with a gap-toothed grimace, glaring red eyes and curved horns. And was that rouge and lipstick on the First? Yes it was. The Second sported raccoon-eyes and buck-teeth. The Fourth had gotten of the lightest, the formerly clean-shaven face now possessing a curled moustache and a goatee. Sarutobi noted that the facial hair was in the correct shade of blonde. From the light haze of smoke around the summit, the noise seemed to have been caused by a lot of fireworks or something similar.

"Hokage-sama!" cried one of the better-dressed civilians. "Someone has desecrated the monument! This is an outrage!"

"Indeed." replied Sarutobi sternly. He turned to his guards. "Find the miscreants and bring them to me. But do not harm them!"

"Yes, hokage-sama! We'll catch the hooligans!" Half the ANBU scattered, the others staying by the man they were supposed to protect.

Sarutobi made sure he had himself under control. It wouldn't do for the Hokage to fall down laughing in the middle of the street. He doubted that the ANBU would catch those responsible. Whoever did this had to be a meticulous planner. After admiring the artistry one last time, Sarutobi headed back to his office.

As he stepped back inside, his instincts immediately told him something was wrong. He slowly scanned the room. Nothing seemed out of place… then he realized that while the window was shut, the latch was no longer in place. He was absolutely certain he had seated the latch before leaving. Without hesitation, he reached for his desk and activated the intruder alarm.

o-o-o-o-o

"Are you sure it was Hiruma who stole the scroll?" cried Iruka, aghast.

"Well, I don't know if it was _the_ scroll, but I saw Hiruma with a large scroll on his back, heading east." replied Mizuki.

"But… but why?"

"Bah! He's got the demon in him! He doesn't need a reason to give us grief!" growled an elderly chuunin. It was a gathering of several teachers and administrators, as they met to coordinate the manhunt.

"Quite right! I heard that many of the civilians are terrified of him, and he threatens them into doing things for him! The Hokage has been far too lenient with him!" cried a kunoichi.

"Well, the ANBU will put him down once and for all." said the elder with satisfaction.

"You're wrong. I'm his teacher! He may be rude and foul-mouthed, but he wouldn't betray Konoha!"

"Are you so sure?" said Mizuki quietly. "We know he's been hiding his true abilities from us. He may have turned a long time ago, and simply waiting for his chance to make a big score and flee."

Iruka had no answer to this. Snarling, he headed outside and leaped on to the rooftops to join the search.

o-o-o-o-o

It was the break of dawn when Iruka returned home. He had spent the entire day and night scouring the village, as had many others, but no sign of the boy. Several of Hiruma's classmates, had been interrogated, but all were ignorant of Hiruma's actions. Hunter-nin squads had already left, on the assumption that he was taking his stolen prize to some other village.

Iruka sighed and rubbed his face. He knew the boy was mistreated by almost everyone in the village, but he put up such a bold front that Iruka had not stirred himself to help as he should. He silently blamed himself. If only he had done his job, he might have realized sooner how Hiruma was concealing himself from everyone. If he had given Hiruma someone to talk to, the whole incident could have been avoided.

Turning on the lights, he was just taking off his slippers when he noticed a kunai pinning a message to the wall. Pulling it off, he immediately recognized Hiruma's handwriting.

_Iruka-sensei, I did it! I passed the test. I stole the scroll from the Hokage's office, just like Mizuki-sensei told me to. I know he suggested I do it late at night, but my way was more fun. Remember, you now have to teach me a jutsu from the scroll and let me graduate. I'll see you both tomorrow at 6 at training ground 8. _

_Hiruma_

Iruka's heart almost stopped. _Mizuki, you treacherous bastard!_ He looked at his watch. Six o' clock was only minutes away. He should go for the ANBU, but there was no time! Heading out, he leaped on the nearest roof, and started running faster than he had ever run before.

o-o-o-o-o-o

Leaping from branch to branch, Iruka headed through the trees surrounding training ground 8. He almost cried in relief as he saw the blond hair and orange jacket. Hiruma was loitering on the edge of the training ground, a large scroll strapped to his back.

"Hiruma!"

The boy looked up as Iruka landed a few yards away. "Iruka-sensei? Right on time!"

Iruka was about to give Hiruma a piece of his mind, when a flash of movement caught his eye. Rising up from the underbrush, less than ten yards away, was Mizuki, arm drawn back to hurl a brace of kunai at the oblivious boy.

"LOOK OUT!" Diving forward, Iruka shoved the boy out of the way, while drawing his own kunai to deflect the missiles. He managed to deflect one kunai, but the other one buried itself in his right forearm, just behind the wrist. His kunai fell to the ground as his fingers went numb. Immediately, Iruka switched to a southpaw stance, with a kunai in his left hand, as he faced down the traitor.

Hiruma picked himself off the ground. "Mizuki-sensei? What the fuck?"

"Hiruma, take the scroll and get out of here! Mizuki's a traitor, this is no test! Do not let him have the scroll!" cried Iruka.

"Huh. That a fact, Mizuki?" asked Hiruma, as he drew a kunai and opened up some distance between himself and both chuunin. Iruka wanted to scream in frustration. Instead of running, the boy was actually moving into the training area, giving Mizuki a clear shot. Sure enough, Mizuki was unslinging his giant shuriken. Chakra-infused and wire-guided, the weapon was hard to dodge and harder to block.

Mizuki had a shit-eating grin on his face as he looked from the injured Iruka to the young boy. "You really think anyone cares about you enough to give you a second chance, monster? Oh, you don't know do you? When the Kyuubi attacked, the Fourth gave his life to seal it away – inside you! You're a monster, and that's why everyone hates you. You ought to thank me, at least I put you to some use."

Hiruma raised his eyebrows. "Is that supposed to be a fuckin' surprise or somethin'?"

Iruka felt his lips twitching at the Mizuki's shock at how his psychological ploy had fizzled. But Hiruma was still talking: "Well, I suppose its proof enough. Ain't that right, ANBU-san?"

The tiniest of sounds announced a new arrival. Suddenly, standing a few yards behind Mizuki was a tall, forbidding figure in black, armed to the teeth, with a face-mask patterned like a dog. To Iruka's growing delight, the figure was quickly joined by two others, one with a boar-mask, and the third with a falcon-mask. Mizuki had whirled to face them, and his face was that of a man who sees his own death. And then, Mizuki screamed, as a kunai buried itself just behind his right knee.

Iruka whirled to face Hiruma, who was already launching a second kunai at the traitor. Mizuki, now on one knee, whirled his shuriken around as a shield, but at the very last moment, the one kunai split into six. Mizuki managed to block three. One carved a shallow groove along his side. One hit him in the chest, but was prevented from penetrating too deeply by his flak jacket. The third struck him in the face, and Iruka could tell from the sound that it had shattered his jaw. The traitor spun in place, scattering blood and teeth, before collapsing to the ground. Amazingly, he was still conscious, and was struggling to get up when the ANBU squad reached him. The squad had weapons drawn, and chopped and stabbed, until Mizuki's three other limbs had been rendered useless as well. Then, the dog-faced leader reversed his kunai and hammered the blunt end down on Mizuki's head, and the shinobi slumped into unconsciousness.

Iruka gave a sigh of relief, and as the adrenaline drained away, his right hand started complaining of the kunai still buried in it. "Uh… ANBU-san… I don't suppose any of you know any medical jutsu?" he asked, as he carefully approached the trio.

"Sorry, Iruka-sensei, they don't cover that in the fucking academy." Iruka froze, gaping like a fish, as one by one, all three ANBU tapped themselves, and the Henge ninjutsu fell away, revealing three identical copies of Hiruma.

"Wha-wha-b-Bunshin? All of you?"

"Not just regular bunshin." said one of the non-ANBU with Hiruma's trademark sneer.

"We're _Kage_ Bunshin." said a second.

"I'm the original." said the third.

The Hiruma with the scroll shrugged. "Sorry ya hurt yourself for nothin', sensei."

"I suspected the bastard from the start. No way was I letting him get a first shot at either me or the scroll."

"The scroll? You mean… that's not the real scroll?" asked Mizuki, pointing at the scroll on the clone's back.

"Nope. Kage Bunshin there as well." replied the clone, as he reached behind to slap the scroll, making it vanish in a puff of smoke. Iruka realized that of the six kunai thrown at Mizuki, there was only one left lying in the grass.

"I left the original scroll in your underwear drawer, when I dropped off the letter." clarified a Hiruma.

"Speaking of the letter, why the fuck are you here on your own, sensei? I figured you'd bring the ANBU with you. This was the fucking backup plan." spoke up another.

Carrying on a conversation with four clones was giving Iruka a headache. "I saw your letter very late, I barely made it here. Where on earth did you learn Kage Bunshin? That's a jounin-level Forbidden jutsu."

"It was the easiest jutsu in the scroll I pinched. Also, pretty much the only one I was sure I had chakra for."

By this time, the Hirumas had finished stripping Mizuki of his weapons and binding him. Now, one of them picked up the discarded gear, and the other three picked up Mizuki.

"Come on, sensei. Let's go find the real ANBU. I'll send the reserves to scout ahead."

"Reserves?"

"Yeah, I got three clones in reserve. That's all I could make without falling over."

Mizuki shook his head in amazement. Six Kage Bunshin was a feat beyond most chuunin. Even jounin rarely bothered with the technique, it was so chakra-intensive. The threat of death by chakra exhaustion was the reason it was a Forbidden Technique.

They had been walking for perhaps fifteen minutes, when the original Hiruma stiffened and winced. "One of my scouts found the ANBU. Or rather, they found him. Better talk fast sensei, this lot looks a lot harder to pacify than Mizuki."

o-o-o-o-o-o

Two hours later, Iruka was sitting nervously in front of the Hokage. His nervousness stemmed neither from the Hokage, nor from the ANBU guard, but rather from the man next to him. Ibiki, head of Torture and Interrogation, had that effect on people. The tall, saturnine man was finishing his report. "In summary, I believe Hiruma-kun is telling the truth when he says it was Mizuki who tried to trick him into stealing the scroll, and that he only went through with it in order to gather enough evidence to trap the traitor. I judge he is correct when he says that no one would have believed him if he had approached the authorities with just his word."

Iruka snorted. "I would have believed him. But that's just me." he muttered.

Ibiki ignored the interjection. "We don't know why Mizuki wanted the scroll, but I'll get it out of him once he regains consciousness. I should note that even if we clear Hiruma's name and put the blame for the theft on Mizuki, there will be those who will want to prosecute him for the damage to the Hokage monument. We have several witnesses who saw him near the monument shortly before the start of the whole incident."

The Hokage puffed on his pipe for a moment before replying. "Did you find out how he pulled off the prank in the first place?"

"Yes. He spent the entire morning painting the faces, while concealing his work under a Henge. He dropped the Henge when the time was right, along with a firework barrage to draw attention."

"Ingenious. But yes, the council will try to use it as a pretext to expel or exile the boy. I wish they'd get a new hobby, I've forgotten how many times they've already tried."

"Ummm…." Iruka coughed politely. When the Hokage nodded, he continued. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but Hiruma only damaged the monument as part of his ploy to catch a traitor. Doesn't that mean he was effectively acting as a counter-intelligence agent for Konoha? Don't we have a budget for things like that?"

The Hokage beamed. "Excellent thinking, Iruka. Ibiki, classify the whole incident with the monument as a necessary part of a counter-intelligence operation. Cover the cleaning costs from your ops budget. And while you're at it, make out a pay voucher to both Hiruma and Iruka here for a C-rank mission. Make sure the paperwork is perfect."

Ibiki looked like he'd swallowed several lemons, but he stiffly nodded acceptance. Iruka could have sworn he heard one of the ANBU snicker.

"How do we handle the matter of Hiruma's grades?" he asked.

"The lad's already proven he possesses chuunin-level chakra reserves, and significant skills with kunai and ninjutsu. I'd say you now have enough information to make a private assessment." replied the Hokage. "But let his official grades stay as they are. Let him know he still needs to pass the finals to graduate."

"As you say, Hokage-sama. And his request regarding Kurita?" asked Iruka.

"You stand by your earlier assessment that Kurita will do better with Hiruma than with Shikamaru and Ino?"

"Yes, Hokage. And now that I've seen Hiruma's real skill, I would add that if Kurita is assigned elsewhere, I don't want to be in the village when Hiruma finds out."

"All right. Hiruma will be with Kurita. I want you to think carefully about who should be the third member, and I want your recommendation by the end of the week."

Dismissed, Iruka took his leave. Ibiki stood up to do the same, but then paused. "There is one more thing, Hokage-sama. It is just a feeling, but I think while Hiruma is telling the truth, he's not telling us the entire truth."

Sarutobi pondered for a moment, and then sighed. "Few people can tell the entire truth, even about themselves, and that boy is twistier than most. I'll tell ANBU to keep a closer eye on him in future."

Ibiki nodded and left.

o-o-o-o-o-o

"HIRUMA-SAAAAN!" Hiruma quickly ducked out of the way of Kurita's embrace, as the enormous boy crashed to the ground.

"What are you doing here, traitor?" cried Ino, as she brushed off the tea and cakes that she had made to try and console Kurita.

"You know there's no fucking way I'd miss our weekly games. Ain't that right, pineapple-head?"

Shikamaru sighed, plucking a doughnut out of his hair that Kurita had spilled in his excitement. "I take it, then, that someone else was responsible for the theft of the scroll?"

"Yep. They mistook some other guy for me. All cleared up now."

"There is someone else in the village with blonde hair and bright orange clothes?" sneered Ino.

"Must be. Small world, isn't it? So, what'll it be, Shikamaru, chess or poker?"

o-o-o-o-o

Some time later, and elsewhere in the village, a short, plump black-haired gent dressed like a civilian trader, was just finishing his third cup of coffee. He'd been at the café for the better part of two hours. He'd spent all that time writing in a little black notebook. He would often pause as if recalling something from memory. Sometimes, he would refer to a few pages of notes. Now, it seemed as if he had finished. He asked for matches and an ashtray, then set the notes on fire and carefully watched them burn, then dumped the ashes into the dregs of his coffee. He slipped the notebook inside an envelope. He then walked across a street to a bank, and placed the envelope inside a safety deposit box. Another five minute's walk brought him to a post office, where he mailed the safety deposit box's key to an address in Konoha. The civilian walk out of the post office, and stepped into a deserted alley. Checking to make sure he was unobserved, the civilian's hands made a half-seal and he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

o-o-o-o-o

Hiruma suddenly stiffened and looked up, and for just a moment, he broke into a feral grin.

"Hmmm? Something wrong?" asked Shikamaru, looking up from the chess-board.

"Nope. Make your move."

The black-haired boy thought for a second, then moved his rook three spaces forward. "Mate in five."

Hiruma studied the board for a minute. "Well, fuck." he muttered, tipping over his king in capitulation. "Where's that leave us?"

"2-0 today. 117-12 overall and 18 draws. Are you sure you don't want to play poker instead?" asked Shikamaru, a trifle smugly.

"Naw, fuckit. Let's stick with chess today. We can play poker next week."

* * *

**A\N: Welp, we have the first major deviation from canon. Basically, the Fourth's Kyuubi seal is a lot tighter this time around, leaving Hiruma with only a tiny fraction of Naruto's chakra reserves. He's still got quite a bit by regular genin standards, but that's it.**

** Next chapter: Sena Hyuuga and genin team formation! **


	3. Chapter 3

**A\N: I own nothing.**

**Third chapter! 10000+ words! Woot!**

**Introducing Sena Hyuuga. Some talking, some action, hope its not boring. Please review!**

* * *

Iruka Umino stood next to the Hokage's desk, and tried not to fidget. Even though they were his comrades, it was still a bit nerve-wracking to be in a room full of people, any one of whom could have broken him in half with only minor effort. The Hokage, and eight jounin of Konoha, were meeting to discuss the final formation of the genin teams. It should have been nine, but Kakashi was, as usual, late. Iruka was there as the Shinobi Academy's representative, and he was experienced enough to note the tension in the air. All the eight jounin were, subtly, trying to dominate the room. To create a favorable impression on the Hokage. To be one of the lucky few who would get a genin team that would actually pass the Secret Genin Test.

Konoha was the Hidden Village with the highest ratio of civilians to shinobi, by an enormous margin. This had been the result of certain civilian-friendly policies that had been perpetuated since the Second Hokage. The large civilian pool meant a manufacturing and mercantile base far exceeding that of other Hidden Villages. This meant that Konoha had a second source of income apart from shinobi missions. This economic independence had proven its importance during the Third Shinobi War. Part of the victory lay in the heroics of people like Jiraiya and Minato 'Yellow Flash' Namikaze. The other part lay in Konoha's deep pockets that allowed them to keep shinobi on the front lines instead of on paying missions, until Iwa was forced to sue for peace. But having a prosperous civilian population meant conceding some power to those civilians. One such concession was the lessening of academy standards, until children from civilian families could qualify as genin. But, the shinobi leadership was comprised of war veterans. While they were willing to send children into battle, they were not quite cold-blooded enough to do so without training them properly first. Thus, the Secret Genin Test. Genin teams that passed the test proved that they had the necessary skills in spite of the lowered standards. Those who didn't were offered a choice – quit, or pass a one-year special training course. Since the special course wasn't part of the official Academy curriculum, it could be as hard as the Hokage wanted. Only a handful would pass the course, but those who did would be immediately assigned active genin status, no further testing necessary. It was an awkward, time-consuming work-around, but political compromises were like that.

The Secret Test was also the reason why 'Copycat' Kakashi had yet to train a single genin, in spite of being on the trainers' roster for the better part of a decade. He was not a particularly difficult test-taker, but he was brutally fair. And since he never bothered jockeying for one of the better teams (or even showing up to the meetings on time) he was invariably assigned the dregs. This year, though, Iruka suspected that things were going to be different.

The Hokage cleared his throat, and addressed the gathered ninja. "Let us begin. You all have known for a while that you would be assigned as instructors. I hope you've taken the time to read up on the genin candidates. Any comments?"

"Yeah. Who's the lucky bastard that's getting the Nara-Yamanaka-Akimichi team? They're a sureshot." This comment came from the Hokage's son, Asuma Sarutobi. Asuma had his father's height and a distinct family resemblance about the face, but a much burlier figure. He was also puffing on his ever-present, miraculously odorless cigarette.

"There is no such team." replied the Hokage.

This pronouncement got everyone's attention. Then there was a chuckle, as Kurenai, the only female present, remarked, "Let me guess. You're putting Kurita Akimichi with the Uzumaki kid."

There were murmurs of surprise and some protests from the others. "You're putting the Akimichi heir with the demon?" asked one vocal member.

The Hokage's glare quickly shut him up. "Hiruma may have a demon inside him, but he is no demon. I would hope the people in this room are experienced enough to know the difference."

"Still, why are we breaking up a winning combination?" asked Asuma in a reasonable tone.

Kurenai gave a snort. "_What_ combination?" Noticing the other jounin staring at her, she wrinkled her nose in annoyance. "Didn't any of you bother observing the brats during playtime? Their families might be in an alliance, but that doesn't mean their kids are best friends. Ino Yamanaka spends all her time either with the other kunoichi or mooning over the Uchiha. The Nara boy's always off on his own trip. Hiruma's the one Kurita spends most of his time with. The two are always on the same team in any game, and they work well together."

Some of the other jounin were still looking at her as if she was spouting Greek. "Alright I appreciate that. But their clan abilities provide such a powerful synergy – even without friendship, it's a powerful tool." observed Asuma.

At a sign from the Hokage, Iruka spoke up. "We have accounted for that. In order to preserve synergy, we need to replace Kurita with another heavy hitter, and we have one. Sasuke Uchiha. They'll be Team 7."

Someone gave a low whistle. "That's a power team alright. Who's the lucky jounin?"

"Kakashi Hatake." said the Hokage.

Some jounin looked surprised, others merely looked resigned. "He's not even here." grumbled one.

"Doesn't matter. He's the only sharingan-user we have right now. We need him to train Sasuke, and Kakashi was a legendary ANBU captain. If anyone can train a team specializing in capture and assassination, it's him."

"_If_ he passes them." There were a few good-natured chuckles at this.

"All right, I guess that works." admitted Asuma. "But who's on the team with Hiruma and Kurita?"

"Sena Hyuuga."

There was a hush at this. Then Asuma started laughing softly. "Oh man, you sure know how to pick 'em. I just wish I could see Hiashi's face when he gets the news." Kurenai joined in the laughter, but most of the others looked slightly worried.

"Are you sure about this, Hokage-sama? Why do we want to drag down the Akimichi and Hyuuga heirs with that dead-last dolt? Surely one of the other students -" spoke one young-looking jounin with short black hair.

Iruka surprised himself by interrupting the jounin. "Hiruma is a lot brighter than his grades suggest, he just doesn't test well." The words felt lame coming out of his mouth, but Iruka was under orders not to discuss the whole mess with Mizuki, so he couldn't give more details.

"That leaves Aburame and Inuzuka from the notable clans, are you keeping them on the same team or splitting them up?" asked Kurenai, trying to move things along.

"Together. We'll add Sakura Haruno. The three of them will make a fine tracking team, they're designated Team 8." replied Iruka.

"If you're making a tracking team, why not put the Hyuuga there?" asked Asuma.

"Because it would be overkill. Shino Aburame and Kiba Inuzuka are already capable trackers with good close-combat skills, a third such member will add nothing."

Many of the jounin nodded in agreement. Over-specialization could be a serious weakness in a genin team.

"So, I guess I'll be taking Team 8?" asked Kurenai. It made sense, considering she started her own career on a tracking team.

"Yes, and Asuma, I want you to handle Hiruma's team."

"All right, if that's what you want." replied Asuma. "But I'm warning you, if they fail the secret test, I am not going to put up with any bitching from the clans. No offence." The last line was to a large, broad jounin, who waved off the comment.

There were no further protests. Some of the tension went out of the air. Everyone knew that the three teams were the ones with the best chance of cracking the Secret Genin Test. The rest of the students, no matter how you combined them, didn't have much chance. Hopefully, some of them would make useful genin after a year of re-training.

Just as they were settling in to discuss the remaining students, the door opened, and a tall, white-haired figure with an eye-patch and a mask covering the lower part of his face ambled in.

"Sorry I'm late, but a cute little girl asked me to rescue her cat from a tree on the way here. Did I miss anything important?"

o-o-o-o-o

At the same time, in another part of town, in the Hyuuga clan compound, a 12-year-old girl was undergoing her daily training. Or, in her case, her daily humiliation. Humiliation was something Sena Hyuuga had long since accepted as her lot in life. The monthly duels where she lost to her younger sister Hanabi was an embarrassment, but at least it meant one more month that Hanabi stayed free. It was the iron law of the Hyuuga clan – there can be only one heir. All spares were to be branded with the Branch family seal, a seal which allowed any Main Family members to bring intense pain or death to any member of the Branch family. It was only Sena's utter failure to live up to the standards of the Hyuuga that had allowed Hanabi to remain unbranded, kept in readiness for when Sena's failures finally reached the bound of their father Hiashi's tolerance.

So, Sena was used to humiliation and embarrassment. What she could never get used to was the fear. The mind-numbing fear of facing someone who she knew was one thought away from killing her. Only two people in the compound inspired this kind of fear from her – her father Hiashi, and her cousin Neji. Her fear of Neji might seem silly – after all, he was branded, and she was Main family – but Sena had never used the seal, and knew she never would. She had seen too many abuses of the seal to ever activate it on any one, and so she feared.

Today, her fear had a focus, for it was the day before the genin team announcements, and her father had decided to prepare her for the big day by having her face Neji in a full-contact spar. Neji himself was utterly cold and emotionless, showing nothing beyond indifference. Sena knew better. She had seen it time and again, as she lay on the floor with her chakra points shut down. She had seen in his eyes how badly he wanted to drive the final strike home, and shut down her heart. Now she faced him once more, and the fear was a flood, held back by a dike that was eroding fast.

The spar started with a few standard katas to build rhythm, then Neji struck in earnest. It was all Sena could do to deflect the attack, since blocking a Gentle Fist's chakra strike was a recipe for defeat. The Gentle Fist attacked muscles, chakra coils, and organs, and deflection and dodging were the only real options. Once more Neji struck. Sena dodged, but had no chance to counter as a follow-up was on its way. Neji was settling into a rhythm, his fingertip strikes coming faster and faster, each one with its own little promise of death. Something had to give, and today it was Sena's courage. Giving up all pretense of attack, she started to run.

She didn't leave the sparring ring, but she was no longer attacking. She was no longer in any recognizable stance. It was pure instinct, as Sena twisted, ducked, and dashed away from Neji's strikes. She was surfing on a tide of fear, each wave corresponding to Neji's next attack. The waves of fear grew higher, as Neji's frustration fed the anger behind his strikes, but she was riding it out…. "SENA! CEASE THIS DISGRACEFUL BEHAVIOR AND FIGHT LIKE A HYUUGA!" her father's roar pierced through her harder than any attack. Her steps faltered and she tried desperately to regain her stance, but her opponent was already into his attack. The rest of the fight lasted three seconds.

After the fight was over her father looked down at her, kneeling on the floor since she no longer had the strength to stand. "That was utterly disgraceful. You broke your stance. You forgot everything I've taught you, and took to running away like a coward. My own brother gave his life to protect you, and this is how you repay him! With cowardice!" Sena looked down at the floor. She didn't bother to apologize, apologizing only made her father angrier. Besides, he was right. She was a coward. Over the last six months, this failure of discipline had been happening more and more often. No matter how hard she tried to tell herself that the pain of defeat was better than the ignominy of cowardice, her body had other ideas.

Her father was still speaking, and she tried hard to pay attention. "Tomorrow, you will be assigned to a genin team. As the Hyuuga heir, you will be most likely assigned to a team with genin from other noble families. Perhaps the Aburame or the Inuzuka. Then, your jounin-sensei will test the three of you to see if you have what it takes to really be genin. And you will drag the team down to failure and disqualification, embarrassing not only me, but potentially two other clan heads as well. Isn't that right?"

"Yes father… I-I mean no father! I won't! I shall pass the test!"

"Surely not. Surely you will take this opportunity to use your failures to hurt as many families as possible."

"No, father."

"We shall see. Hope springs eternal. As for your disgraceful performance today, you shall go to your room immediately. No food will be brought to you tonight, and you shall not eat breakfast either."

Her father then turned on his heel and walked out, followed closely by Neji. Sena, getting painfully to her feet, arms limp by her side, staggered to her room. There, she curled up on her futon in the fetal position, and finally allowed herself to cry. The tears were mostly of relief, because for a few more hours, she was free of fear.

o-o-o-o-o

The next morning Sena sat in her class, with the twenty-six other genin that had passed this year. No one paid any attention to any one else today. She had even forgotten about her aches and pains and growling stomach. All eyes were on the eight jounin standing sternly behind Iruka-sensei.

"All right class, I will call out the members of each team. Those whose names I call, follow your assigned instructors out of the classroom, they will take you to your first team meeting." announced Iruka. Then, he began to call out the names.

Sena saw the called students getting up to meet their new sensei. Many of them looked eager. How could they? Didn't they know the hardest test was yet to come? No, they probably didn't. Her father had warned her not to speak about the test; it was supposed to be a secret. But if it was a secret, why had she been told? The bottom fell out of her stomach. She knew a secret that she wasn't supposed to. Her father must have made a mistake when he told her, he had been angry at the time. What if her jounin-sensei found out? Would that disqualify her? Would it disqualify the entire team? Sena was on the verge of panicking, when – "Team 7, Sasuke Uchiha, Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka."

"HAH! In your face, Sakura!" The cry interrupted Iruka and pulled Sena out of her thoughts. Ino leaped from her chair exultantly, while Sakura seemed to collapse into a puddle of depression. Sasuke didn't even glance at the girls, though his lips thinned a tiny bit. Shikamaru muttered something that sounded like "troublesome".

"I'm glad you're so enthusiastic, but mind saving it for your instructor?" asked Iruka dryly. Ino flushed and retook her seat. "Speaking of which, your instructor is Kakashi Hatake, and he seems to be late. Just wait for him here, until he shows up."

Well, that solved the mystery of why there were only eight jounin. For a second, Sena wondered if her name had already been called, but there were 9 genin in the room, which meant it was fine. Now, she started studying the remaining few genin carefully, wondering who would be on her team, and her face fell as she considered the choices. Sakura was nice, but they were not likely to put both girls on the same team. Shino creeped her out – she'd seen what he kept under that concealing jacket – but at least he was always polite. The same couldn't be said for Kiba, who was loud, brash, and enjoyed teasing the girls. Kurita, Sena actually liked. The enormous boy always had a kind smile for everyone; he was slow to lose his temper and quick to regain it. But Kurita was always accompanied by Hiruma, and he was the last person Sena wanted on her team. Hiruma was as loud and brash as Kiba, but there the similarity ended. Even at his most obnoxious, Kiba's insults lacked real malice. Hiruma used words like kunai – find a weak spot, ram it in, and twist. That was when he wasn't using language that made even Kiba blush. But mostly, Sena was afraid of Hiruma, because her father had warned her to stay away from him. All the other children she spoke to had been similarly warned and no one knew why. Sena knew, beyond a shadow of doubt, that if Hiruma got assigned to her team, her father would blame her for it. _Please, Kami, I pray to you, don't let Hiruma be on my team…_

"Team 8, Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka, Sakura Haruno. Jounin instructor, Kurenai Yuhi."

Apparently, even the gods had forsaken her. She tried to console herself with the thought that she might be able to hide behind Kurita, both from Hiruma and from their new sensei. Their sensei was Asuma Sarutobi – the Hokage's own son! – and he certainly looked big and intimidating enough to be descended from the man people called "God of shinobi". Sena stumbled to the front of her class, head down so as not to attract attention, the same way she had moved her entire life. "We're heading for training ground 17. Try to keep up." a deep pleasant voice said, and Sena meekly followed the rest of the team out. She was so busy looking at the floor, she didn't see the small but sincere smile that Asuma bestowed on all three genin, or the careful way Hiruma was sizing her up.

o-o-o-o-o

When people were asked to describe Asuma Sarutobi's personality, the first words used would be 'laid-back'. Other popular adjectives were 'calm', 'honest', 'brave', 'loyal', and 'a bad enemy'. None of these descriptors were inaccurate. He was considered one of Konoha's greatest jounin, and rightly so, given his distinguished career, both in Konoha and in the daimyo's bodyguard. Even the interlude during which he had forsaken the shinobi way to become a monk only added to his reputation as a warrior, rather than subtracting from it. Yet, in spite of all his accomplishments, few bothered describing him as 'intelligent', 'clever', or maybe even 'devious'. Somehow, they saw no disconnect between his noted tactical brilliance, and the bluff, honest man they all thought him. Asuma himself took quiet amusement in this. Now, as he led his new genin team across the treetops to training area 17, he considered what he had learnt of them while in the classroom.

Hiruma had spent the time reading a manga while the names were being called, but Asuma had seen the way he had carefully studied every jounin and every student over the top of his book. Hiruma also had a most impressive poker-face. Asuma had him pegged as an independent type who would resent control. People like Hiruma made either the very best or the very worst of subordinates. Often at the same time. Kurita, on the other hand, was an open book. In Asuma's judgment, the large boy was fundamentally loyal and honest, but a touch too passive. He would need to be more aggressive to make chuunin, but it was a small thing. The student who worried Asuma the most was Sena. He had been told she was shy, but _shy_ didn't quite cover what he saw. He suspected her of a crippling lack of self-confidence, and fervently hoped he was wrong. Devious buggers like Hiruma, he could handle. People like Kurita were easy. But he didn't know the first thing about taking a broken little girl and turning her into a killing machine.

o-o-o-o-o

Sena bent over and took a deep breath, trying to steady herself. Training Area 17 was a distance from the academy, and Asuma-sensei had set a punishing pace. Kurita was huffing as well. Hiruma, though, wasn't even breathing hard.

"All right, everyone, line up." Sena fell into line beside Kurita. She still kept her head lowered, but peeked up through her lashes to study her sensei. He had seemed forbidding in the classroom, but now his face looked kind and gentle, and she felt a faint trickle of hope.

"Now, before we go any further, let's introduce ourselves. Name, likes, dislikes, dreams, that sort of thing. I'll go first. I am Asuma Sarutobi. Yes, I am the Hokage's son. No, that will not affect anything. I like cigarettes, music, and hanging out with friends. I dislike peaches, and people who break their word. I dream of marrying a beautiful woman, raising a family, and dying in bed at a ripe old age. Your turn."

Sena realized he was looking at her, and immediately froze. It took a few tries to get her throat working, and the first time she spoke so softly, Asuma asked her to repeat herself. Blushing furiously, she spoke up. "I am S-Sena Hyuuga. I l-like my family. I don't really d-dislike anything. I want to make my father p-proud of me."

"I am Kurita Akimichi. I like eating, especially Ichiraku's ramen, and hanging out with friends. I dislike how long it takes for food to prepare. I want to master my clan's techniques and develop traveling rations that taste as filling and delicious as a four-course dinner!"

Sena glanced up and saw the enthusiasm shining from Kurita's face, and she couldn't help but smile. The smile was wiped out when Hiruma spoke.

"The name's Hiruma Uzumaki. I like people I can use. I hate useless idiots. I'm going to rule the world, but becoming Hokage will do for a start." The statement was delivered deadpan, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

Asuma looked at him for a second with raised eyebrows, and Hiruma stared right back with his most devilish grin.

Asuma gave a small shake of his head, either of disbelief or amusement, before addressing the group at large. "I'm pleased to meet all of you. As your jounin instructor, it will be my duty to give you on-the-job training in the art of being a shinobi. I will also be team leader on missions. I'm not a difficult guy to please, just do what I tell you to do, when I tell you to do it.

But before I can start your training, though, there is one last test you need to pass. Until you pass the test, you are not genin."

"What? But… we passed the academy!" The protest came from Kurita. He, at least, seemed surprised.

"The academy only tests your potential. It is up to me to decide if you actually have what it takes. And I should warn you in advance; this final test has a failure rate of 66%. Two out of three teams fail this test. Yes, I said teams. There are no individual scores in this test, you will all stand or fall together.

Now, the good news is, even if you fail, you can still go back for the 1-year remedial course. It's not the end of the world. But, really, I recommend you pass. You don't want to be stuck in remedial lessons while your friends are off doing missions and learning new techniques.

The test will start tomorrow, right here, at 7 AM. I will tell you what the test is then. Any questions?"

"What should we study for the test?" asked Kurita nervously.

"Sorry, can't tell you that. Wouldn't be a secret test, otherwise."

Since there were no further questions, Asuma left, with a reminder to be at the training ground by 7. Sena glanced at her teammates. Both of them seemed lost in their own thoughts. Well, she was under instructions to report back to her father as soon as class ended. Sena hadn't taken two steps, though, when a cold voice rang out behind her, "Where the fuck you think you're going?"

A lump of ice formed in her stomach, as she turned to face Hiruma. She tried to explain about her father's orders, but Hiruma overrode her.

"You heard the fucking beardy. All of us gonna pass or fail together. I guarantee it means the test will be one about teamwork, where we'll be expected to cover each other's weak points. So, you ain't goin' nowhere till I know what you can or can't do.

Now, you're Hyuuga. Means you know that Jyuuken style they all go on about. Say, I heard you guys are so good, you can knock shuriken out of the air with your bare hands. That true?"

"Um… y-yes?"

"Cool! Let's see it!" A shuriken was whirring towards her midsection. Reflexes took over, and Sena knocked it out of the air with a quick jyuuken strike.

"Fuck, yeah! Do that again!" The next shuriken was hurled faster, but again, Sena had no problems. Next came two at once, Sena just used both hands.

Suddenly, a shuriken whirled past her ear, coming in from the right and behind. She whirled around in shock. Standing there was another Hiruma. As Sena looked from one to the other, the second one grinned with far too many teeth. "I'm sorry, I thought the Hyuuga saw everything with their big white eyes. Or was that all hot air?"

Pricked by the doubt cast on her family, Sena immediately activated her bloodline ability. "Bakyugan!"

Her jaw fell slack. Standing directly behind her and to her left were two more clones. _When on earth did he make those?_

"Now, we can really see what you got. Fair word of warning, you think these are illusions, you gonna get hurt."

_Corporeal clones? That's not an academy technique! When… how…?_

There was no more time to think. Shuriken were whirring in from every direction. Sena rapidly fended off a dozen tosses, it was no different than some of her exercises. Then came one more shuriken. Sena thought it was going to miss, when it was suddenly replaced by four shuriken, two of which were on target. Anyone else and she would have thought them illusions. But the Bakyugan saw through illusions, and she felt in horror as the two copies bounced off her jyuuken strikes before puffing into smoke.

"Aw, I thought those would get you." The Hirumas were looking, if anything, even more manic. The next shuriken came at her throat, and split into six halfway there.

If this had been a training session in front of her family, Sena would have worked her hardest to persist with the Jyuuken. But here, there were no teachers, no family, to criticize her. Fear washed away all thoughts save self-preservation, and she _blurred _out of the way.

Hiruma blinked, then grinned even broader. "Is that all you can do?" he cried, and all four of him went into rapid-fire, each shuriken splitting four or five times, creating a blizzard of pointy metal.

Sena dropped the jyuuken entirely, and redirected all chakra to her legs, as she did her best to keep ahead of the storm.

_Right! Left! Dive left! Roll, twisting jump! Duck, slide! Push off right! _

As the seconds ticked by, Sena was aware of a strange sensation, as if there was a path in front of her, a path only she could see, leading through the shuriken barrage. The path kept changing, but as long as she followed it, she knew she would be safe.

Suddenly the path was no longer there. Stumbling to a halt, she realized the clones were gone. Only one Hiruma stood in front of her, and his hands were empty.

Hiruma looked at her coldly, and pronounced his judgment. "The way you are now, our chances of passing are around 10%."

o-o-o-o-o

"The way you are now, our chances of passing are around 10%." Of course, Hiruma was joking. He figured, with that kind of speed, they actually had a pretty good chance of passing. The plan was for his statement to prick the girl's pride. She would then protest his statement, and he would use the opportunity to segue into a pep talk, and fire her up with a desire to prove him wrong. _That should solve the shyness problem, at least till tomorrow,_ he thought with satisfaction. Therefore, he was quite surprised when the girl collapsed to her knees, and face to the ground, started babbling apologies for being a failure and coward. He saw Kurita start forward to comfort her, and he snapped out an arm to hold him back. Instead, he addressed Sena. "Coward, huh? And who told you that?"

"M-my father said I was a coward. He's right, I can never keep my stance when in danger, I always try and run away from it. Please forgive me, I'll drop out and explain to Asuma-sensei that it's my fault. I n-never should have taken this test…"

Hiruma had heard enough. Normally, when he got angry, he'd bury the anger deep and use it for motivation. This time, though, he felt it was only proper that he get just a little bit angry.

o-o-o-o-o

Sena let out a squeal, as a hand grabbed her by the hair and dragged her face up. She found herself staring into Hiruma's eyes which were like two chips of polar ice. "One more word, and I'll gut you." and she realized his other hand was holding a naked kunai. "Now, listen to me, very, _very_ carefully. When I say we got a 10% chance, do you know what I fucking mean?"

"Y-yes. I…"

"No, you don't. What I fucking meant was we could still do it. As long as there's any fucking chance, if I ever hear you talk about quitting, I'll kill you myself. Are we fucking clear?"

"Y-yes."

"So, let's try this one more time. Our chances of success are 5%. Whaddaya say?"

"W-we can still do it?"

"I don't want you to fuckin' ask me, I need you to fuckin' _tell_ me. Our chances are 1%. What does that mean?"

"W-we can still do it."

"Say it like you mean it! Our chances are 0.1%!"

"We can still do it!"

"Louder! OUR CHANCES ARE 1 IN 10,000!"

"WE CAN STILL DO IT!"

"THERE'S A MILLION FUCKERS OUT THERE SAYING YOU CAN'T! I WANNA HEAR YOU DROWN THEM OUT!"

"WE. CAN. STILL. DO. IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTT!"

Sena didn't know when she'd stopped trying to form coherent sentences. She was screaming, with no thought for how she looked, or her poise, or her position as a Hyuuga heiress. All she knew was that the sound of her voice seemed to push back the despair that had been threatening to crush her not less than a minute ago. So she kept on screaming until her voice was hoarse and she was out of breath.

Hiruma squatted down, and looked at her. His face was as cold as ever, but his voice was soft. "Our chances are one in a billion. Do we quit?"

"No. We can still do it."

Once again, the broad too-sharp grin spread across Hiruma's face, but the threat in it no longer seemed aimed at her. He leaped to his feet and hollered, "Kurita! Get over here!"

The large boy immediately came jogging, "Are you all right, Sena? He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"Shut up, and listen! After much deliberation, I have decided to offer Sena Hyuuga a membership in our most exclusive organization."

"Er… what organization?"

"Why, we are the ones who refuse to accept defeat as long as there is a chance of victory! We are demons, assaulting the gates of heaven even though gods and mortals alike turn their hands against us! We are… the Devil Bats! Come screaming out of hell to spread chaos and anarchy, our trail blazed for us by our very own… Demon Princess!"

Kurita seemed awestruck by the idea. Sena on the other hand, was busy trying not to laugh. She couldn't believe anyone could say lines that corny with a straight face.

"D-demon Princess?" she giggled.

"Indeed, and as a celebration of our arrival, we honor with a carriage ride to a celebratory banquet!"

"Huh?"

"Kurita, pick her up on your shoulders, and let's get ramen."

"What? No, put me down. Stop!" squeaked Sena as she found herself hoisted up on Kurita's broad shoulders.

"To Ichiraku's!" cried Kurita pompously, getting into the spirit of things, while Hiruma let out a demonic cackle. "Mortals beware, the demon princess is here!"

o-o-o-o-o

"Stop calling me demon princess and put me down! What will my father say?"

"We are the Devil Bats! What care we for parental authority?"

"What? Do you know what my father will do…"

The noise of childish bickering faded, and Asuma, hiding behind a tree, breathed a sigh of relief as he tried to steady his heart. He had left the children alone so as to observe their personal dynamics, and he had been on the verge of jumping in at least half a dozen times. He was still amazed that no one had gotten hurt. He slowly lit up a cigarette and puffed quietly, as he pondered. _Well, at least Hiruma seems to have some idea of how to bring shy girls out of their shells. But I'll need to make sure he doesn't go overboard with his clever ideas. Also, how the hell does a brand-new genin know what looks a lot like the Kage Bunshin? Me and the old man are gonna have words._

o-o-o-o-o

It was the day of the test, and Asuma was pleased that he had managed to surprise everyone, even Hiruma. The kids had obviously not expected anything so obvious. All they had to do was beat him, so he told them. A bald-faced lie, but if that didn't bring out their best, nothing would.

They'd been at it for about fifteen minutes, and so far the kids had done pretty well. Asuma had already seen Hiruma's trick of shadow cloning his shadow clones' missiles, exponentially multiplying firepower, but the explosive tags were new. _How does an orphan afford that many tags? One more for the mystery books._

He'd had to make liberal use of the Shushin (Body Flicker) and the Kawarimi (Body Replacement) technique to avoid them. He'd also popped four of the eight clones Hiruma had made, besides knocking all three kids around a bit. The reason it took him so long to destroy the flimsy shadow clones, was because the clones were playing it cautious, and both Sena and Kurita were running interference for them.

One particular trick which had nearly knocked him on his ass was Hiruma's shadow clones using Kawarimi to replace themselves with a charging Kurita using his family's Meatball Tank technique. Asuma sometimes felt like a flag in a pinball machine. Sena, too, had been popping up unexpectedly, trying to nail him with her jyuuken, before dashing to avoid his counterstrike. Truthfully, he could pass all three of them right then and there, but he wanted to see just how far they could go.

A barrage of Kunai headed his way for perhaps the twentieth time, and he neatly dodged out of their path. _Now, if I've got the pattern down, Sena should try something…_ a scream of pain made him jerk around, and he saw Sena, curled up on the ground with a kunai sticking out of her abdomen and blood staining her jacket._ Aw, shit, I must have been blocking her vision of the kunai…_A glance at Hiruma showed the boy frozen with shock.

Asuma quickly reached the girl, and was just bending down to check, when some instinct made him leap backwards. The leap became a stumble, as his right knee was quickly losing strength from the jyuuken strike. Sena had leaped back to her feet, casting aside the kunai and dispelling the henge'd blood. She charged forward. At the same moment, a whistling in the air announced the arrival of several more kunai. And a Hiruma clone initiated a flying kick on Asuma, only to be replaced in midair by a flying Kurita. _Hoo boy._

o-o-o-o-o

The three children were resting, utterly exhausted, with a magnificent collection of bruises. Well, two of them were exhausted. Hiruma still looked ready to go. His rest was being enforced by a judicious application of ninja wire. Asuma was sporting a shiner, several cuts and scrapes, and his leg still wasn't responding well. In the end, he had to bust out a low-power Ash Volcano to finish the fight. "Well done, you brats. Congratulations, you pass." Sena and Kurita stared at him in surprise, and even Hiruma raised an eyebrow. "I doubt any genin team can take on a jounin unless they ambush him. Since I knew you were coming, there was no chance of you beating me. But it was an impressive effort, which is what I was looking for. Welcome to the Konoha shinobi!"

"Yay! We passed! We passed!" Kurita leaped up, fatigue forgotten, and wrapped both his comrades in a bear hug in spite of their protests, and started swinging them around.

Asuma smiled, as he watched his team's antics. Then the realization of what he'd done caught up with him. He'd passed them. Kami help him, he'd just agreed to let a trio of children into a life of blood and intrigue, with an early grave the most probable reward. Suddenly, he felt very old and very tired.

o-o-o-o-o

The door to the shinobi bar opened, and Asuma limped in. Special Jounin Genma looked up, and chewed on the senbon needle in his mouth for a moment before speaking. "Looks like a rough mission, Asuma-san. Did you run into an enemy jounin or something?"

Asuma just gave him a baleful glare, before sitting down heavily at the bar and ordering a drink.

* * *

**A\N: Writing Sena's character was hard. I had to ask myself, "what would Sena be like if I replaced his loving parents with the jerk-ass Hyuugas, and he had no Mamori to back him?" and the answer I came up with was "in even worse shape than Hinata". **


	4. Chapter 4

**A\N: I do not own Eyeshield 21 or Naruto.**

**I wanted to update sooner, but RL got in the way. Hopefully, next chapter will be out quicker. Please review!**

* * *

It was yet another beautiful spring day in Konoha, two weeks after the genin team assignments. Asuma had dismissed his team after a celebratory lunch following their 10th D-rank mission, the capture of Tora the cat. The team hadn't set any records, but Asuma suspected they'd had more fun capturing that accursed cat than any other genin team in history. Hiruma had acquired a seemingly inexhaustible supply of firecrackers, which he had distributed to his teammates. With Sena's bakyugan, they had then proceeded to run the cat in circles by dropping explosives in its path whenever it tried to hide or make a break, closing in for the capture only after the traumatized cat dropped from exhaustion. The kids had a lot of fun blowing things up, and it was certainly an impressive display of teamwork in the way they'd managed to keep the cat boxed in.

All in all, Asuma was very pleased with his team. All of them, even Hiruma, had accepted the tedious D-rank missions with good – or at least, not terrible – grace, and they had settled into a comfortable schedule. D-rank missions five mornings a week, and training during three of the afternoons. Asuma had so far limited the training to taijutsu and team exercises, but he thought it might be time to start them on chakra control. He'd planned to give it at least a month before starting them on chakra control, but any more team training seemed redundant. Kurita and Hiruma worked seamlessly together. Sena might have been odd-girl-out, except Hiruma claimed that the 'Demon Princess' needed to take her rightful place leading the 'Devil Bats', and pushed her hard to combine herself effectively with the team. Hiruma pushed everyone. He seemed obsessed with getting better as quickly as possible, and determined to drag the rest of his team along for the ride. Well, Asuma wasn't complaining. The lad was a natural manipulator, and as long as he acted for the good of the team, Asuma was willing to turn a blind eye to his methods, which often involved liberal application of pointy things and explosions.

To make things even better, on this particular afternoon, specialist jounin Anko Mitarashi was out of town on a mission. This meant Asuma could spend a pleasant few hours wearing away the defenses around the heart of the raven-haired beauty Kurenai Yuhi, without worrying about interruptions from her irreverent, snake-wielding, gossip-mongering best friend. He knew Kurenai would be free because, by pure coincidence, his genin team's daily schedule matched hers to the minute.

Thus, it was with understandable irritation that Asuma observed Hiashi Hyuuga, the Hyuuga clan head, crossing the street to speak with him. Still, it wouldn't do for a jounin to blow off a clan head, so Asuma paused and gave the man a polite bow. Hiashi gave a barely-perceptible nod in return, and spoke in his clan's trademark haughty tones: "Asuma-san, I know that jounin are given wide latitude in the training of their genin teams. Nonetheless, I feel your schedule is somewhat excessive. You are leaving no time for the training of clan techniques, techniques that are the mainstays of Konoha's strength."

Asuma's face darkened. Kurenai's schedule specifically left gaps so that clan members could keep getting instruction from their families. Was the bastard saying he wanted even more time? "What exactly do you mean, Hiashi….sama?"

The pause before the honorific was a clear signal as to what Asuma thought of the conversation, but Hiashi didn't seem to notice. "What I mean is your habit of holding team-training and D-rank missions six days a week, from morning to night, leaves hardly any time for Sena's jyuuken (Gentle Fist) training. Her mastery of jyuuken is far from acceptable, and this neglect is only making matters worse." the man elaborated in icy tones.

Asuma was about to protest, but then his brain ground into action. If Sena was staying out six days a week, then it was his job as jounin-sensei to know why. And he would be damned if he would admit ignorance in front of this stuck-up prick. "I shall give your request careful consideration. Now, if you don't mind, I have a team to train." he replied evenly, then ambled on his way. As soon as he felt Hiashi's sight leave him, he took to the roofs. He didn't know where Sena was, but he suspected Hiruma had something to do with it. Silently mourning his lost afternoon, he started his search.

o-o-o-o-o

Hiruma sat on a cushion on a marble floor. It was a vast room clad in patterns of white and black marble. Hiruma was looking at a hand of cards, while in front of him rested a large pile of multi-colored chips. Reaching out, he plucked four green-patterned chips and three blue ones from the pile, and slid them into a much smaller pile several feet in front of him. "Seeing your bid of forty farms and raising you three islands from Wave."

A deep, evil chuckle echoed around the room. Beyond the chips representing the pot, stood a vast, barred gate segregating the room. The two halves of the gate were held in place by a tiny strip of paper with the kanji for "seal" written on it. Beyond the gate, five playing cards floated in the air, each taller than Hiruma. Studying those cards were two enormous yellow eyes with slitted red pupils, the only defining features visible in a cloud of malevolent red chakra that seemed to fill the room beyond the gate. A gigantic paw emerged from the cloud. In a moment, it had morphed into a clawed hand that reached out delicately to pluck up several chips over three feet across from a towering pile. The hand rolled the chips through the bars of the gate. The chips immediately shrank to normal size, before rolling into the pot. "Seeing it, and raising you four mines from the Land of Iron."

There was a moment of silence, and then Hiruma gave a snort of annoyance. "Fold." he said, tossing down his hand. There was another chuckle, as the pot slid towards the gate. As the chips passed through the bars, they giant-sized before adding themselves to the demon's pile. "Yuk it up, fur-face. I'm still kickin' yer ass." muttered Hiruma, as his opponent's cards shrank themselves and returned to him to be shuffled.

It had seemed that simply knowing he was a jinchuriki, a demon container, had been enough to open up a line of communication. Within a few weeks of finding out the truth, Hiruma had found himself in his mindscape during his sleep. The mindscape, a spiritual representation of his own mind, was also where the gateway to the seal containing the nine-tailed demon fox Kyuubi was located.

When Hiruma had first arrived, the place had taken the form of a sewer, with water everywhere. It had offended Hiruma's sensibilities, and so he had set about rectifying the situation. Learning how to manipulate his mindscape had taken a month of frustrating trial-and-error, especially since the Kyuubi proved singularly unhelpful. During those first weeks, the fox either insulted him, or ignored him entirely.

But Hiruma understood something – the fox was bored. It might be a millennia-old chakra entity whose laziness would put a Nara to shame, but there was only so long you could spend napping or observing the day-to-day life of a twelve-year-old. By the time he had figured out how to change the mindscape into its present form, the Kyuubi had become marginally civil. Civil enough that Hiruma felt comfortable inviting it to a game. They had tried chess first, but the Kyuubi had little patience for strategic thinking. It much preferred games of chance. And here, they ran into a major snag. The whole exchange was taking place inside Hiruma's head. This meant the results of any game of chance were affected by Hiruma's subconscious desires.

It had taken three months, and a raid on Konoha's library for information on meditation techniques, before Hiruma managed to craft the deck of cards they were currently using. Hiruma was proud of that deck. It was, literally, a piece of his mind that was hiding from itself. Now, he could gamble in his mindscape without his own brain interfering with the outcome. Their playing chips each represented resources and territories from the world map. After all, what was the point of gambling with a demon, if it wasn't for the entire world? Even the fox had been pleased by his success, and that was when it had told him its name, Kurama.

As Hiruma shuffled the deck, he considered this mental trick. He had practiced it to the point where he could create such mental constructs with only minor effort, but he had yet to figure out a practical application. Maybe he should consult with Konoha's Genjutsu Mistress, Kurenai… assuming he could find a way to pry her loose from Asuma-sensei…

Kurama stirred inside its cage. "**Someone's coming." **

Hiruma took its word for it. The fox was more sensitive to chakra than he was. Abandoning the game, he concentrated briefly before opening his eyes onto the real world. His teammates had already stopped their spar; Sena must have spotted the newcomer as well with her bakyugan eyes. She turned towards him nervously, and mouthed the word, 'Asuma', just as the jounin made his entrance. Well, it took the old fart long enough.

o-o-o-o-o

Asuma paused for a moment, taking in the scene. Two genin sparring while a third meditated. Nothing particularly unusual, except that the two kids were sparring while standing on the side of tree twenty feet off the ground, while the third meditated while sitting on the surface of the Nara river. Well, at least Asuma now knew what his team was getting up to behind his back.

"Alright, you brats, line up."

Kurita and Sena hurried to comply. Hiruma got up and ambled over in his usual slouch. Morally certain that the spiky-haired blond was behind the whole affair, Asuma addressed him. "How long have you lot been practicing chakra control without telling me?"

Hiruma gave his usual smirk. "I've been at it a couple of months. I told fatso weeks ago, and chibi-hime joined us from the first day after we passed the test."

"I see. And who exactly taught you these exercises? They're only meant to be taught to active genin."

Hiruma shrugged. "Tree-climbing and water-walking are real simple; you can get them out of scrolls just fine. Library had everything. As long as you walk in wearing something that looks vaguely like a Konoha headband and chuunin jacket, they don't ask any questions. Don't worry sensei, I returned the scrolls after I was done with them."

Asuma was tempted to yell that it wasn't about the scrolls, Hiruma had broken the law, but he knew the blonde wouldn't care. So, he tried a different tack. "If you wanted additional lessons, why didn't you come to me?"

Hiruma's grin grew even broader. "I would've, but I didn't want to cut into your time with Kurenai-san."

Asuma spluttered and glared with killing intent at the boy, but even though the others wilted under the pressure of his will, the blonde remained annoyingly chipper. Asuma gave a huff and brought his temper under check. Really, what could he do? He couldn't exactly bawl out his genin for taking the initiative in training themselves. They'd probably advanced his training schedule by over a month. Still, he had to build some sort of trust with his team. They shouldn't have felt the need to go behind his back in the first place.

"I commend you on your initiative, but it was very wrong of you undertake this training without at least letting me know. Even if I couldn't always be here because of… other commitments… I'm still your jounin-sensei, and it is up to me to create a balanced training schedule."

Asuma focused specifically on Hiruma. "To be precise, it is up to me to ensure that my students have enough time to meet their commitments at home. Hiruma, you're an orphan, so you have quite a bit of freedom as to how you spend your time. But Kurita and Sena have clans with their own special and powerful jutsu that they can only master by training at home. While I think it's wonderful you want to spend time with your teammates, don't you think you're being rather selfish?"

"Naw, not really. Kurita has been practicing his clan techniques with me since our second year in the academy. It's never slowed him down any. He picks up the basics at home, and then polishes them up with me."

Kurita nodded affirmation. "Tha-that's right, Asuma-sensei. I'm used to practicing my clan techniques with Hiruma."

"Well, it isn't the Akimichi who are complaining. I just had Sena's father chewing my ear. He claims that Sena is getting worse with their clan's jyuuken style."

He noticed the girl turn bright red with embarrassment, as she tried to hide her face in the collar of her jacket.

Hiruma, though, simply smiled more widely. "Sensei, who's the best at taijutsu of the three of us?"

"That would be Sena." replied Asuma, wondering where this was going.

"By a big fucking margin." agreed Hiruma. "So, how's about you spar with her. Only this time, she's going to use only what her clan taught her."

Asuma blinked, then mentally kicked himself. He'd spotted the difference between Sena's style and the ones used by most Hyuuga, and had put it down as being a variant of the traditional jyuuken. He'd never even suspected that Sena might be using her own style.

He silently indicated that Sena should take her stance. Even as they squared off, Asuma could see the difference. There seemed to be a tenseness about Sena beyond her usual shyness. The girl had the air of a trapped animal. Once the spar started, the differences became more pronounced. She was still as fast and agile as before, and her jyuuken strikes were delivered with her usual speed and precision. But the whole performance was…. _Uninspired. That's the word. No surprises, no innovation, purely mechanical._ thought Asuma. Sena was going through motions that had been drilled into her for almost a decade, but there was no life in her moves. The biggest difference, Asuma noted, lay in her footwork and defense. The jyuuken style used an extremely steady stance from which the user could rapidly shift positions for both offense and defense. The defense consisted primarily of jyuuken blocks that simultaneously deflected and paralyzed an opponent's limbs, and rapid circular footwork to avoid what couldn't be blocked. It was a brutally elegant style developed over several generations. Sena's style was clearly rooted in the jyuuken, but she eschewed the defensive strikes entirely, preferring to dodge all her opponent's attacks. Her footwork reflected this, never standing still, always moving, trying to force opponents into a misstep. Where a traditional jyuuken user would do everything possible to close the distance, Sena would cheerfully allow her opponents to open up space, often doing it herself, before rushing in to close the distance again.

Her style was chaotic, unrefined, and full of holes, yet as Asuma sparred with her, he realized she was twice as effective using her homegrown style than when using the technically superior jyuuken.

Once the spar was finished – far too quickly – Asuma sighed. "All right, I get the picture. The traditional jyuuken doesn't suit Sena. But can't you talk to your father Sena? See if he can give you instruction in developing your new style?"

Sena mumbled something while staring at the ground. Hiruma stalked over to her, and delivered a sharp kick, eliciting a squeal from the girl. "Sensei asked you a question; let's hear the fucking answer, chibi-hime!"

Rubbing her backside, Sena glared at Hiruma before addressing herself to Asuma. "Father says as the Hyuuga heir I must master the jyuuken. He says I am a coward for not staying steady in the face of the enemy. It is true, both Neji-kun and Hanabi-kun have no trouble with the jyuuken. But I am a failure, I-I just c-cannot… I'm so sorry…"

"Alright, alright, I understand." Asuma cut her off before the girl started crying._ Damn Hiashi and his stubbornness. _

Asuma talked to the group as a whole, "Well, you three have managed to land me in a nice mess. Hiashi-sama is under the impression that Sena has been training under me all this time. When he finds out the truth, he'll hit the roof. What do you expect me to do then?"

"You're the fucking jounin-sensei. If you say we need the training, nothin' no one can do except shut up and bear it."

"To make that convincing, I'll actually have to be here six days a week. And unlike Gai and Kakashi, I actually happen to have a life. Seriously kid, six days a week? Don't you have games to play or books to read or something?"

All three smiled at this. "Don't worry sensei, we don't work all the time!" piped up Kurita. "In fact, we were going to play a game of football today, out on the river. Training's fun that way!"

"Well, sensei, if you're afraid of bein' bored, how about we set up some joint training with Kurenai-sensei's team?"

Asuma once more found himself delivering a futile glare at the infuriating blonde. "I don't know where you get your gossip, Hiruma. Me and Kurenai are just good friends! Nothing more!"

"Hai, hai, sensei. I was just saying, since you are 'good friends' it'll be more fun working with them than on our own. Plus, Kurenai-sensei is supposed to be a genjutsu mistress. I figure we can really learn quite a bit about genjutsu from her."

Asuma considered it. "I didn't know you were interested in genjutsu, Hiruma. With your chakra reserves, you'd be much better off specializing in ninjutsu."

"Are you kidding? Genjutsu lets you mindfuck your enemies using just a tiny bit of chakra. 'Course I'm interested. And even if I'm no good at it, she can still teach us how to go about spotting and breaking that shit. Not all of us got lucky enough to have the bakyugan. So, whaddaya say, sensei?"

Asuma considered it. It would be nice to have an excuse to hang around Kurenai at all hours of the day. Plus, he had a sinking feeling that if he refused, Hiruma would go bug Kurenai on his own.

"All right, I'll ask her. But!" Asuma held up a finger, and subjected his students to a glare of doom, "You will not go behind my back like this again. Not only is it annoying, it's dangerous!"

"Deal!" said Hiruma cheerfully, while the others shuffled their feet embarrassedly and muttered acquiescence.

Asuma sighed and wondered how, in the space of fifteen minutes, he'd gone from attempting to discipline some disobedient genin, to conspiring with them to deceive a clan head. He had little doubt he could persuade Kurenai to agree to the joint training. The only question was if she would forgive him afterwards.

o-o-o-o-o

_(A few days later)_

"GAAH! YOU BASTARD, WHAT THE FUCK?!" screamed Kiba, as he rolled on the ground clutching his face. Beside him, his nin-dog Akamaru also rolled on the ground, whining and scrabbling at its nose.

"Kekekeke! Feel the wrath of my Chili Powder Clones! Now die with your fucking eyes melting!" cackled Hiruma as he proceeded to deliver kicks to the downed boy's kidneys.

"All right, that's enough!" barked Kurenai. Hiruma immediately stepped away.

"Hai, Kurenai-san!"

Asuma sighed. Half an hour. That's exactly how long it had taken for the Inuzuka boy to lose his temper with Hiruma during their very first joint training session. Luckily, since Kiba had thrown the first punch, Kurenai couldn't blame Hiruma. But that just meant she'd find a reason to blame Asuma instead.

Sure enough: "Chili powder clones? What sort of stupid jutsu have you been teaching your genin, Asuma?"

Asuma held up his hands defensively. "I haven't taught them any jutsu, Kurenai-san. We just got through basic chakra control. That's Hiruma all the way."

"Well, where did he learn it then? It's been less than three weeks since they graduated! Come to think of it, how is it possible to make chili powder clones in the first place?"

"I have no idea. Hiruma, care to explain?"

"Hell, no. Shinobi's secret, sensei. But I will trade the info if Kurenai-san agrees to teach our team a cool genjutsu."

"What makes you think you can learn one of my genjutsu in the first place? It needs superb chakra control. Right now, Sakura's the only one on my team who's suitable." Sakura beamed with pride at this.

"Well, that's what the joint training is about ain't it? If we can't we can't, but if we can, you gotta teach us. That is, if you want the secret to the chili powder clone for you and your students."

"You don't mind letting my students know your secret?"

"In exchange for lessons from the great Genjutsu Mistress of Konoha? No problem!"

Kurenai blushed faintly at the flattery. At this point, the third member of her team, Shino Aburame, spoke up for the first time. "Sensei, it is your decision, but I must confess interest in this chili powder clone jutsu. Why? Because given its effect on Inuzuka noses, I think it will make a fine addition to our training." The high collar of his jacket prevented anyone from seeing Shino's expression, but there was a definite tinge of amusement in his voice.

"Oh, yes, please sensei!" chirped Sakura cheerfully.

"Traitors." mumbled Kiba, blinking tears from his bloodshot eyes.

"Well… alright then. Hiruma, you've got a deal."

"Kekeke… excellent! Gather around and pay attention! The chili powder clone is a combination of two ingredients. The first ingredient is a solid clone. Shadow clones like mine are best, but any solid clone will do. The second ingredient… is this!" with that Hiruma held aloft a paper tag.

"What's that?"

"Storage scroll containing a fuckload of chili powder."

There was a moment of absolute silence.

"THAT'S IT?" shrieked Sakura. "You just make a clone and let it hold chili powder?"

"Well, it takes a bit of practice to get the timing down right, but yeah, pretty much. Why, were you expecting clones made out of chili powder? That's flippin' impossible!"

Kurenai's attempt to glare the blonde into submission was interrupted by the snickers emanating from her boyfriend. "I suppose I should have warned you." chortled Asuma. "Making a deal with Hiruma is like making a deal with the devil. No matter how good it sounds, you're screwed in the end."

Kurenai let out of a soft chuckle. "Well, I suppose a deal's a deal. Genjutsu lessons, was it? Let's get started."

Something in her voice rang alarm bells in Asuma's head.

o-o-o-o-o

Late afternoon saw Team Asuma heading back home. Kurita was twitching like a spastic, constantly glancing all over the place with panicked eyes. Hiruma looked steady, but his jaw was clenched and his right eye was twitching. For the normally unflappable boy, this was the equivalent of a screaming fit. Sena was staring straight ahead, the veins around her over-large pale eyes showing the red bruises of Bakyugan over-usage. Every few seconds, she softly muttered a genjutsu-dispelling "Kai!" under her breath. Even their jounin-sensei Asuma looked haggard, as he puffed away like a chimney on his cigarette, trying to calm himself.

With one long, shuddering breath, Asuma finished one cigarette and used the burning stub to light another. "I hope you learned your lesson, Hiruma. Hell hath no fury like a pissed-off kunoichi."

The only response from Hiruma was a pained grunt.

"She's evil." Sena said in a soft, horrified whisper. "Only a sick, twisted mind could come up with that genjutsu. It takes almost ten seconds for even the Bakyugan to see through it. Kai!"

Asuma sighed. "In her defense, she didn't come up with it. She merely recreated something some of us jounin were unfortunate enough to witness."

All three genin looked at it him with horrified eyes.

"You mean that actually fucking happened?" snarled Hiruma.

"But… those eyebrows… the green spandex…. the _hugging_…oh Kami, the _hugging_! Kai!" whimpered Sena.

"I'll never think of a sunset on the beach the same way again. Where did _that_ come from?" wailed Kurita.

Asuma sighed sadly. "None of you three have met Maito Gai and his student Rock Lee, have you? Well, at least you're now ready for the real thing."

"I'll get back at her." muttered Hiruma through clenched teeth. "I don't know when or how, but I promise it will be fucking _epic_."

Asuma patted the boy on the shoulder. "Normally I'd object, but I have to agree, this time Kurenai went too far. There are some depths no shinobi should stoop to. Weaponizing the Sunset of Youth – what _was_ she thinking?"

* * *

**A\N: Next chapter – C-Rank missions!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A\N: I do not own Eyeshield 21 or Naruto.**

**Sorry for the delay, I'd been planning an update for weeks but I'm a professional procrastinator. **

**okamiamateratsu8: Thanks for reminding me about Hiruma's character quirks. But a lot of them are very over-the-top and I want a slightly serious tone for the story. I'll try to keep them, but I don't want it to feel forced.**

** Suntan140: The football mention was a shout-out to ES21, but I'm not going to actually put a football game in a story about ninjas. Not unless it's relevant ;)**

**To everyone else who reviewed, even if I don't respond, be assured I read them all.**

**Fanfic Recommendation: WHITE by The Dish. It is awesome. www fanfiction net/s/9296210/1/WHITE**

**On with the story! Please review!**

* * *

It was a hot morning in late summer in the village of Konoha. Training ground 17 was clear – until, in a blur of wind and leaves, jounin-sensei Asuma Sarutobi appeared on the scene. He was followed within a second by a gray blur, which stopped exactly ten feet behind him to reveal a short girl, about 4'5" with large pupil-less lavender eyes and short black hair, wearing dark trousers and a full-sleeved gray top. Two seconds later, an orange flash resolved itself into a skinny blond boy of around 4'10" in bright orange jacket and sweats, standing to the left of the girl.

The group waited for three seconds, before yet another fast-moving blur joined them. This boy was 5'3" with black hair and a round face, and looked big enough to eat the other two and have room to spare. Unlike the others, who had stopped with pinpoint precision, the large boy skidded, stumbled, and almost face-planted before finding his balance and lining up beside the orange-clad boy. This boy was dressed in earth tones of brown and green.

Asuma turned around and inspected his genin team, trying to keep his pride off his face. One full lap around Konoha matching his pace using nothing but the Shushin less than two weeks after he had started teaching them the technique. True, Kurita could still use some more practice, but he had kept up, and that's what was important. There was really no other way of putting it – Team Asuma was more than ready for their first C-rank mission.

He looked at three children whose lives were in his hand. Sena was standing shyly and looking at the ground, but there was an ocean of difference between this girl and the one who had first started training six weeks ago. A casual observer wouldn't notice – _"And apparently, neither does her family",_ thought Asuma sarcastically – but this girl was at peace with herself. It was a far cry from true self-confidence, but Sena, after much help from her team, had come to terms with her faults rather than beating herself up over them. She had also ditched her bulky jacket for a simpler top. Having Kurita drag her down by the jacket and sit on her three spars in a row seemed to have had its effect. Kurita was the same as ever, a big soft-hearted fellow who worried about everything. He was now considerably more decisive in combat, but he still preferred to remain a passive observer rather than try and assert himself. The leader of the trio, Hiruma, was looking directly at Asuma with a knowing smirk on his face. The boy had been agitating for weeks for a C-rank mission, and he knew Asuma had no further reason to hold them back.

Truth be told, Asuma could have taken his team out on a C-rank almost a month ago. Thanks to Hiruma's forcing the entire team into a training schedule far beyond what Asuma had planned, the team had mastered water-walking within a few weeks of graduation, and had perfected all basic team drills even earlier. All three students had complete control over the Academy techniques, and Hiruma had actually managed to cut his Kawarimi from five hand-signs to three. Their cross-training with Team Kurenai had also paid off – all three had greatly improved their genjutsu recognition, and Kurenai had indicated that Sena, and maybe even Hiruma, could eventually learn to cast genjutsu in battle. And this wasn't even talking about Sena and Kurita's clan techniques, and whatever skills Hiruma had picked up on the side. Truth be told, even Asuma wasn't sure exactly what Hiruma could do. He knew the kid could make his own storage and explosive seals, but he also knew Hiruma had his shadow clones running around researching lots of things besides Fuinjutsu.

In spite of their capabilities, Asuma had insisted all three learn the Shushin before he take them out of the village. This was not because he expected them to use it in battle – it took years of practice to refine the Shushin to the point where it could be used in a fight. He wanted them to learn it so that they could retreat when a mission went sour. Asuma hadn't survived 15 years as a shinobi without learning that no matter how careful you were, sooner or later a mission was going to blow up in your face. If it ever happened to his genin team, he wanted his kids to have the option of running the fuck away.

True, there were those in the village who would be less than pleased over how much care he was taking in preparing his team. To be precise, one particular member of his team. _"Well, I am following their instructions to the letter. If they don't like it, fuck 'em."_ Asuma thought with cold satisfaction.

**_(Begin flashback)_**

_Asuma watched the Hokage's advisory council and several clan heads leave the Hokage's office, then turned to his father, fury etched in his face. "You cannot be serious. Are you really going to sit there and let them tell me to backstab one of my students? This is not what I signed up as jounin-sensei for! Hells, I thought you liked Hiruma!"_

_"Do not be angry, Asuma. You have to see things from their perspective. Hiruma's childhood has given him no reason to love Konoha. The incident with the forbidden scroll, instead of proving his loyalty, just underlined how dangerous even an untrained Hiruma Uzumaki is. They look at him and they see a powerful, clever, unscrupulous, manipulative youngster. Konoha knew a genin like him once before, and it didn't end well."_

_It took Asuma a few seconds to realize who his father was talking about. "Orochimaru? You have to be joking!"_

_"Is it such a laughable thought?"_

_His father's somber tone caused Asuma to pause and think carefully. Slowly, he spoke: "I will admit there are certain common points between him and Hiruma. But I remember the snake from my early days. The sannin might have been a legendary team, but Orochimaru always stood apart from his teammates. Hiruma is, if anything, the exact opposite. He clings to his teammates like a drowning man to a piece of wood. I can't see him betraying Konoha, not if it means hurting Kurita and Sena."_

_"That is now. They are worried what will happen if he ever becomes powerful enough to defy the village. You know there was a movement to confine him solely to training with the Kyuubi's power, a human weapon to be used and then locked away."_

_"That idea was stupid then and its stupid now, and you know it. No one can predict the future, but I do know that Hiruma's smart enough to know if I try to jerk around with his team's training, and then he'll really have a reason to hate us."_

_"I'm glad you feel that way, since I completely agree."_

_Asuma opened his mouth to argue further, then spluttered to a halt. He gaped at his father for a moment, then seemed about to ask something else, before closing his mouth once more as a thoughtful look came over his features. "The council is an advisory body. You did not veto their advice, but neither did you order me to follow it."_

_Hiruzen Sarutobi gave his son a serene smile over steepled fingers._

_"You realize that it's my neck on the line? But then, you've never shied away from sacrificing your own blood, have you?"_

_The Hokage's smile slipped, but he didn't say anything. There really was nothing to say._

**_(End flashback)_**

Asuma allowed himself a small smile as he surveyed his team. They wanted him to hold Hiruma back? Well, technically, he was holding him back by teaching him D-rank jutsu like the Shushin, given the kid's chakra reserves were provably adequate for B-rank ninjutsu. Never mind that few genin so young knew the Shushin. And if Hiruma were to pick up fuinjutsu, or genjutsu, or demolitions on the side – well, what his genin did outside of training was none of his business.

"Alright, brats, a deal's a deal. You guys managed to learn the Shushin, so we are picking up our first C-rank mission today."

Kurita and Sena looked nervous, Hiruma's smirk turned into a shark's grin as he threw his arms into the air with an exultant "YA-HA!"

o-o-o-o-o

When Team Asuma showed up at the missions desk, the Hokage was there to greet them. This did not surprise Asuma. He knew his father usually spent several hours a day hanging around the missions desk, either in person or as a shadow clone. There, he always had a kind word for the shinobi who came to pick up and report back on missions, no matter how low-ranked. It was the Hokage's way of keeping in touch with the common ninja.

Iruka Umino seemed to have the duty today. "Yo, Iruka-sensei, great to see ya. How's the fucking hand?"

"Language, Hiruma. And the hand's fine, thank you for asking. So, we have a dog-walking job, or a fence-painting…."

"None o' that crap! Today, the Devil Bats take their first C-rank! Let the world tremble!"

Iruka looked in shock at Hiruma, then glanced at Asuma, who nodded confirmation. "What have you got in the C-rank lists today?"

"But…but it hasn't even been two months since graduation…" protested Iruka.

The Hokage spoke up from behind the man: "Now, now Iruka, Team Kakashi came by to pick up a C-rank mission over a week ago. I suppose the genin in this class are just naturally gifted."

"That lazy-ass Shikamaru actually agreed to a C-rank this early? What's the world coming to?"

"I do believe it was Sasuke Uchiha and Ino Yamanaka who pushed for it." replied the Hokage cheerfully.

Iruka, frowning disapproval, glanced at the coding on the side of a random C-rank scroll. "Caravan escort work for you?"

"We're not picky." replied Asuma, as he snagged the scroll and walked out, his team following on his heels. There were several small meeting rooms near the missions desk, just for teams to have meetings. Asuma picked an empty one. His genin team automatically checked for eavesdroppers, Sena briefly activating her bakyugan. Once they had ensured their privacy, Asuma opened the scroll and looked through the contents. "Alright, seems simple enough. There's two wagonloads of weapons due to leave town. Swords, spears, shields, and crossbows. The shipment is meant for local militias in four nearby towns in the Fire Kingdom. According to the schedule, the caravan will make stops every four or five days, the last stop being twenty days' journey from here. Or in shinobi terms, a four-day run. The last two towns are near the Earth kingdom border, so we'll have to be on our toes there. You guys have the rest of the day to pack, I'll go talk to the caravan boss. Meet me at the gates tomorrow at six. Dismissed."

o-o-o-o-o

Morning saw Team Asuma assembled by the gates, along with two medium-sized horse-drawn wagons weighed down with their loads. As the caravan-master set about seeing to last-minute preparations, Asuma checked his genin team's packs. Given the length of the mission, some may have been surprised at how little the team was carrying. This was because every member of the team, including Asuma, had access to storage scrolls. Sena and Kurita got them from their clans, and Asuma and Hiruma knew how to make their own. Asuma checked everyone's packs, raising his eyebrows at some of the more unusual contents. He thought Sena was going a bit light on weapons, but that's the Hyuuga for you. Kurita had a fairly well-balanced pack, with the addition of several high-volume scrolls containing nothing but food. Hiruma had far more kunai and shuriken than normal, along with, for some reason, a spear, and he seemed to have packed enough explosive tags to account for a small grove of trees. He also had some resistance seals, durability seals, and a seal-making kit. _Looks like he's farther along with fuinjutsu than I thought. These are all pretty basic seals, but not even most chuunin know them._

Personal idiosyncrasies aside, all his genin had packed everything that could be remotely useful – a feat possible only due to having no weight limits. _I think I'll file a petition to make the storage seal part of the academy syllabus. Kids don't need to understand fuinjutsu to draw a seal by rote._ Satisfied that his team was as ready as they could get, he went over to inform the caravan master that they were ready to start. Within an hour, Team Asuma had left Konoha on their first C-rank mission.

o-o-o-o-o

Around the same time that the wagons were leaving the village, Hiruma Uzumaki's clone sat down in the darkness of his apartment with all the windows closed, only a small lamp for light. While many people knew of his shadow clones, right now he had reasons not to let anyone know that he had left clones behind in Konoha.

It was an experiment for him to see just how disparate experiences can be combined using shadow clones. In the previous weeks, he had figured out that clones transferred their memories to him when dispelling. So far, he had mostly used clones to help him with whatever he happened to be doing at the time, at most having clones on one other project. Now, though, he had four clones in Konoha, each working on something different. He had also figured out that having a clone active for more than 24 hours resulted in severe migraines and disorientation, so orders were for each clone to make a clone of itself before dispelling at the 24-hr mark. Hiruma judged that in this way, he could safely operate clones for 4 days before they disappeared due to chakra exhaustion.

This particular clone had holed itself up in Hiruma's apartment, and was working on fuinjutsu. The clone rubbed its head, wishing it had been assigned to something easier. There was a reason why true sealing expertise was such a rarity. Most seal-users were hackers, learning seals by rote and combining pre-existing seals to achieve new effects. Actually creating a seal from the ground up was an entirely different story. Seals were like hand-signs, in that they were both tools for molding chakra. Hand-signs, however, were a focusing tool, used as a guide for the brain in molding chakra. With enough practice, it was possible to do away with signs entirely, molding chakra for a jutsu with will alone. Seals, on the other hand, were an actual physical circuit for the chakra to flow through. The snag being, chakra was a force that existed in three or more dimensions, while seals were two-dimensional. The mind-bending mathematics required to express an n-dimensional reality in two-dimensional form was the reason why so few people ever tried to learn true sealing.

Hiruma, however, was adamant. Partly because of pride in his own intellect - fuinjutsu was the most intellectually demanding of the shinobi arts, harder than cryptography, and it was only right and proper that he learn it. Partly, it was a way of claiming back some of his lost heritage – asking around under a Henge had quickly turned up the information that the Uzumaki were an extinct clan of seal-masters from the destroyed hidden village of Uzushio.

Mostly, though, Hiruma wanted to learn sealing because it was just so incredibly efficient. Seals cost chakra to create, but once made they could be activated at any time with only a spark of power. They could allow a shinobi to remain a threat long after he had emptied his chakra reserves. Hell, it had been repeatedly proven that you could lock away a bijuu with pen, paper, and a suitable container.

Now, which idea to pursue first? A durability seal capable of strengthening shadow clones, seals with a dead-man switch method of activation, or further improvements to the explosive tags he called Widowmakers? Decisions, decisions…

o-o-o-o-o

At about the same time, two nondescript chuunin made their up the steps of an apartment complex. They stopped outside a door – the door belonging to Kurenai Yuhi. Finding her address had been frighteningly easy. The two carefully checked for traps, before one of the shinobi transformed into a long spool of wire. Such a transformation would have been impossible for a flesh-and-blood shinobi, but as chakra constructs, shadow clones had far more flexible limits. The second man took the wire and carefully fed it in through the keyhole. Once the entire wire had been passed through, the clone in the apartment transformed back and got to work.

The second clone headed for the library. Hiruma had an ongoing research in natural remedies and poisons. A lot of the most powerful poisons and herbs were either very rare or secret to the Nara and Yamanaka clans. But there were several weaker substances that could be found around Konoha without too much difficulty. He couldn't kill anyone with the stuff he'd developed so far, but they could weaken and disorient an opponent. Paradoxically, few shinobi bothered developing immunity to the weaker poisons, meaning they were actually more likely to work than some of the well-known combat venoms. Plus, there were some toxins no one could become fully immune to. At the same time, he had decided he needed to develop a more original delivery system – poison-coated throwing weapons was something any shinobi watched out for. Well, one thing at a time. Poisons first, delivery system later. Hiruma didn't know why more ninja didn't try and learn about poisons, they were just so efficient.

o-o-o-o-o

The fourth and last clone had the simplest task. Heading for a secluded training ground under a Henge, it got to work on chakra control. If jounin Maito Gai was a fanatic for physical training, Hiruma was a fanatic for chakra control. Better chakra control opened up hitherto inaccessible branches of the shinobi arts, in particular medical jutsu and genjutsu. But even without that, it simply made everything more efficient.

o-o-o-o-o

It was evening of the first day on the road, and Asuma observed Hiruma, Sena and Kurita all sitting by the campfire with leaves stuck all over their body. "Chakra control again, guys?" the jounin asked genially.

"Can't stop practicing. Kurenai-san says that I got the right type of mind for genjutsu and Sena already has the control for it. I want to start on that when we get back." came the reply from Hiruma.

At the mention of his lady love Asuma grew pensive. _I wonder what Kurenai's doing now._

o-o-o-o-o

At that very moment, Kurenai was vowing to castrate whichever motherless son of a bitch had booby-trapped her shower with pink dye. Striding out of the bathroom in a fury, she ran face-first into the trap storage scroll on the bathroom door. In fairness to her, the reason she hadn't spotted the trap going in was because it hadn't been there at the time. The clone had concealed itself as an item on her shoe rack and had ghosted forward to set the trap as soon as she had gone in.

Now, the clone transformed itself into the form of a masked human, in order to have eyes to fully appreciate the sight of a naked Kurenai Yuhi covered in permanent pink dye and flailing in a mixture of glue, rotten eggs and chicken feathers. The clone dispelled itself before Kurenai could react to its presence. Now, _that_ was a memory worth keeping. As it dispelled, the clone idly wondered which of the other traps Kurenai would step in next – the dead fish inside her sleeping mattress, the blocked sewage pipe, the itching powder in the bandages she wrapped herself in, the rubbing alcohol soaking her spare underwear, or the hallucinogens in the drinking water.

A shame he couldn't stay to find out.

o-o-o-o-o

**(Three weeks later)**

Team Asuma watched as the contents of the last wagon was received by their proper recipients. Asuma accepted the payment for a successful mission. As soon as the team was out of sight of the clients, Hiruma threw up his hands in frustration. "That was fucking BORING! Threw weeks trampling horseshit and nothing fucking happened! I've had more fun D-ranks than this!"

Asuma lit a philosophical cigarette. "When you've been at this business as long as I have, you learn to appreciate the quiet missions for what they are – a blessing from Kami."

"Fucking hell, we take these missions to get experience. What kind of experience was this? When we heard rumors of bandits on that last stretch of road I thought we'd see some action, but even that fizzled out."

"Now, now Hiruma. We should be happy we didn't run into bandits. Bandits are scary… ow!" Kurita stopped talking as an infuriated Hiruma kicked him in the shin.

"Shut up, I got a plan. Hey, Asuma-sensei, there's no urgent reason for us to rush back to Konoha. What say we get on our Henge, and go back down that bit of road and fish for bandits?"

Asuma considered it. Truth be told, he had been looking forward to seeing his team perform under fire. Not to mention, without the caravan to worry about, things were actually safer than before.

"Alright, I guess we can, but we'd better plan this carefully…"

o-o-o-o-o

Four days later, a middle-aged man looking like a well-off civilian, accompanied by his plump young apprentice, a teenaged daughter, and a young maidservant were walking down the road. All of a sudden, half a dozen ragged-looking men jumped out of the bushes, armed with swords and clubs. Some of them were wearing bits of leather armor, but most were in ordinary clothes.

"Your money or your –"

The exclamation was cut short as a kunai buried itself in the speaker's throat. Hiruma, dropping his Henge, sent a second kunai into another man's eye, dropping him like a rock. Asuma, sticking to the plan, Kawarimi'd out of the ambush and into position to oversee his genin's performance and act as reserve. Sena used a strike to the wrist to disarm the man nearest her, then a jyuuken strike to throat and neck to drop him. Kurita, in a blink of an eye, suddenly grew over ten feet tall and grabbed the nearest bandit in a bone-crushing bear hug.

The last two men seemed too shocked to respond, and Hiruma was just drawing another kunai when Sena let out a shout: "ARCHERS!"

Hiruma didn't hesitate, diving to the ground as arrows buzzed above him. He heard a cry of pain from Kurita, but he didn't have time to look. Even as he fell, he formed his fingers in a non-standard cross-sign and pumped chakra into the jutsu. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

With a puff of smoke, six clones appeared in formation around the primary. Almost immediately, one puffed into smoke as an arrow ripped through its skull.

Hiruma looked up and counted four archers about fifty feet away. Three were struggling to hit anything now that the targets were aware and maneuvering. The fourth archer, in an incongruous display of speed and skill, fired off two more arrows before anyone could respond, tearing apart two more clones.

The three remaining clones responded with a hail of Shadow Kunai, shredding one of the archers and injuring a second. Unfortunately, not only was the dangerous one unhurt, he had fired off another arrow as he danced around the clones' attack, popping yet another clone.

Gritting his teeth against the pain of losing four clones in rapid succession, Hiruma decided it was the ideal time to field test his new device. Drawing an unusual-looking kunai, Hiruma dashed towards the archers, his remaining clones running interference. By the time his last clone popped, he had closed the distance to less than forty feet. Diving to the ground once more, he used his forward momentum to launch the kunai at the master bowman, while shouting out one word: "WIDOWMAKER!" It was not the name of a technique, but rather a warning to his teammates.

The kunai that left his hand was unusual in that it was made of wood. The blade was intricately painted, while the handle had lead rings to lend the device some weight. It did not fly as fast as a regular kunai, and the target had no trouble getting out of the way. That was when Hiruma released a chakra pulse, activating the seals on the blade.

Early in his sealing career, Hiruma had realized that it was not strictly necessary to make seals on sealing paper with chakra-infused ink. Any chakra-conductive medium would do. Alternate media includes blood, the body of living creatures, and chakra-conductive metal. In the case of the kunai, it was made from the same chakra-infused wood that is used to make sealing tags and chakra paper. It was not a very efficient medium for sealing, but it was adequate for the two simple seals that Hiruma had inked onto the blade. The first seal was a storage scroll that unraveled to release a few pounds of loose four-inch nails. The second seal, designed to activate a tiny fraction of a second after the first, was a garden-variety explosive tag. Together, they were the Widowmaker.

Hiruma felt the buzz of stray shrapnel passing over his head. Someone was screaming. Looking around without lifting his head, he realized the screams were coming from one of the archers. As for the rest of the goons, Sena and Kurita had taken them down even before the Widowmaker had gone off. Now, his two teammates got up off the ground, and Hiruma saw an arrow sticking out of the fleshy part of Kurita's arm. Looking around and realizing the fight was over, Kurita focused on the wound and concentrated. Dropping the Multi-Size jutsu, the carefully controlled contraction forced the arrowhead out of his flesh. Kurita promptly set about washing and binding the wound. Sena looked completely unhurt, if a little frazzled by the blast. Sighing in relief to see his teammates safe, Hiruma started looking for their sensei. _I really hope he didn't get caught in the blast…_

Asuma, it transpired, had been circling around to flank the archers, but had been well-concealed enough to be protected from the shrapnel. Of the four archers, only one had survived the blast. He was the one doing the screaming because a nail had lodged in his groin. The lead archer who had given Hiruma so much grief had been the closest to the blast. His corpse was recognizable as human and not much else.

After securing the prisoners (two of them), the group headed for the bandit's base camp. On the way there, Asuma lectured Sena on the importance of staying alert for reinforcements. The reason the archers had gotten so close to total surprise was because they had been out of Sena's sight when she had spotted the first six bandits, and she hadn't been sweeping as diligently as she should have, so focused was she on the enemies she knew of. Sena started to stutter apologies, and Hiruma shouted at her to stop apologizing and start practicing.

It turned out the bandits had left two members to guard their camp. This time, Sena spotted them well in advance, and the fight was over before it even started. Asuma had no further interest in messing around. The number of prisoners increased to three, the group then salvaged whatever they could from the bandits, before burying the bodies. They headed to the nearest town to drop off their prisoners before heading for home.

o-o-o-o-o

**(Three days later)**

Team Asuma returned to Konoha with a minimum of fuss. They should have been filled with the pride of a successful mission, but both Sena and Kurita were still coming to terms with the lives they had taken in the course of the fighting. Hiruma had killed more than the two of them put together, but if he was bothered by it, he showed no signs. Instead, his attention through the last few days had been occupied by a novelty.

As the team traveled to the missions office, their passage was accompanied by a strange twanging noise. "Hiruma, you've been playing with that for three days. Are you seriously planning to learn how to use it?"

"You bet I am sensei! With this shit, I'll be able to outrange 99.9% of all known shinobi techniques. Why wouldn't I learn how to fucking use it?"

Three of the archers had used shortbows commonly found in Fire. The leader, though, had used something rarely seen in Konoha – a powerful compound hunting bow straight from the smithies of Iron. A weapon like that usually sold for thousands of ryo. As far as Hiruma was concerned, it was another weapon that gave him an edge over the local opposition. The problem being, practically no one in Konoha used bows. Still, Hiruma was sure he could find someone who could figure the thing out.

After they had finished reporting in, Hiruma suddenly spoke up: "Asuma-sensei, when you see Kurenai-san next, be sure to be sympathetic."

"Sympathetic? Why?"

"You'll figure it out. It was like I said, fucking epic."

* * *

**A\N: What is this? A mission which went according to plan and where the opposition was within parameters? What will we crazy fanfic writers think of next?**

**This chapter had a lot of focus on what Hiruma is up to in his spare time. This doesn't mean that Kurita and Sena are slacking off, its just that Hiruma is yet to apply his particular brand of out-of-the-box thinking to their training, which means their skills are still within 'normal' parameters.**


End file.
